Doomsday
by Anguirus111
Summary: The ultimate engine of destruction arrives on Earth as the final Phantom Zone escapee.
1. Doomsday

A/N: Yeah well it's hardly the most original idea but it seemed an appealing storyline to me at any rate. And yes I know Doomsday's actual origin story and no this doesn't necessarily follow that completely, but it's pretty close. Also, I wrote another Smallville story on FF about Clark meeting up with Hal Jordan so that's why he's in this story and no you don't have to read that other story to understand his appearance in this one, because in this one he actually does have the ring.

_Several months ago, Kal-El of Krypton, Clark Kent of Earth, was trapped in an inter-dimensional prison known simply as: The Phantom Zone. Shortly thereafter he escaped and unintentionally freed several other prisoners in the process. Over the next several months, Kal-El would encounter these escapees and either capture those that were merely spirits, or eliminate those that weren't. It was not the easiest task in the world, voluntarily putting oneself in harms way and possibly risking death just to save the lives of others, but Kal-El was cut from a different cloth than the rest of humanity. Chloe Sullivan had stated correctly, he was more than just a hero he was a superhero and so he rounded them all up without once complaining. But as so often happens in these situations, he missed one. Not that it was necessarily his fault. After all, the other 'Zoners' as he referred to them were essentially allowed to roam free in the Phantom Zone and merely continued to do so on Earth. But this one…this one was heavily bound and sealed inside a massive metal coffin that was placed into the Phantom Zone and so when it was sucked back to Earth, it was buried deep underground following its impact with the surface. But the impact it made also had the unforeseen consequence of freeing its bound arms and it began the slow but arduous task of attempting to break free by pure brute force._

Smallville: Clark Kent was in the loft of his barn going over what information he and Chloe had managed to gather on Project 33.1. It was not very much, Lex Luthor had a very good stranglehold on the project, but at least they had something to go on. And with Clark's mother now in Washington working on Capitol Hill, he had a lot of time on his hands since farm chores exceedingly took less and less time to finish with his ever growing powers. But despite it all, he felt empty inside. His connections with this place were becoming less and less all the time. His father was long since gone, his mother no longer here, his best friend Pete had left as well for his own safety, and with Chloe working more and more at the Planet and Lex and he no longer on real speaking terms after the whole deal with Lana, Clark found himself at least once every day longing to just go and vanish into the night forever. All he needed was an exit, but so far that had proved elusive. Truth be told, he was also scared about when that exit finally arrived, what would be his final decision, but until then all he could do was delve further and further into his work keeping his inner thoughts a secret from anyone and everyone.

"Hey Clark," said Chloe Sullivan as she appeared from down below. "How is it going?"

"The same as yesterday and the day before that," said Clark disgusted as he tossed the pages onto his desk. "The connections are there, I know they are, but there's always just one piece missing that I can't figure out."

"It'll come Clark believe me," said Chloe trying to reassure him. "But why don't you take a break from all that, let's go get some lunch at The Talon."

"Alright," said Clark not wanting to give up but realizing he had no choice. As he got up, he instantly fell down in pain as he tried to cover his ears to stop the sound of the intense pounding that he heard.

"Clark? Clark?" asked Chloe concerned as she knelt down to try and see what was wrong with him. Clark clenched his eyes tight and willed the sound to go away and through intense concentration it finally did and he once again stood up, a little groggy.

"The pounding again?" asked Chloe. Clark had heard this intense pounding noise on and off for the past month now and eventually he let Chloe in on it when it had interrupted a phone conversation of theirs a week ago.

"Yeah," Clark confirmed as he started walking. "My superhearing must just be going haywire or something, I can't figure it out."

"Well have you figured out the source of the noise yet?" asked Chloe.

"No," confessed Clark. "But they're doing some construction down the road so it's probably just that."

"And if it's not?" asked Chloe prodding. Clark turned to face her.

"What are you getting at?" he asked with slight force.

"I'm a reporter Clark," explained Chloe not backing down. "And that means that I can't assume anything, I need facts to make a conclusion and you don't have any right now."

Clark waved her concerns off and kept walking. "If it comes to what I think you're thinking then I'll deal with it, I always do."

"I know you will Clark, I know you will," said Chloe with a smile as the two left the barn.

Elsewhere: The dirt on the ground shook almost imperceptibly to nearly everyone except the individual now standing over it. The individual's eyes began to glow bright red as if scanning the ground somehow.

"_So…the rumors are true_," thought the individual with dread before it vanished into the night sky leaving a trail of red behind.

33.1 Lab: Lex Luthor was furious. He had learned about these alien visitors too little too late and all of them had either been eliminated or killed before he could learn what they were doing here and before he could use their living genetic structures to aid him in his quest to create the ultimate soldier.

"We will continue on somehow sir," said his aide Bartlett. "We still have the rest of the prototypes to experiment with."

"They are still only human," said Lex bitterly. "And people are ultimately weak. I need that extra edge, that edge I had when I lost my memory, in order to make 33.1 the ultimate force to be dealt with."

"Yes sir," answered Bartlett backing down. Lex finally stopped his pacing.

"Are you certain we have located all of the craters?" he repeated again.

"As far as we know, unless one of them fell into the ocean and they'd likely either be dead or have shown themselves by now like the others did," responded Bartlett.

"And that localized seismological event we've been monitoring?" asked Lex.

"Unchanged," answered Bartlett. "Growing in strength but not moving at all."

Lex filed this away for later use as he resumed his pacing.

"Very well, tell me about experiment 12-A," he said.

Underground: The metal of the box began to stress more and more until finally the creature managed to break through. It roared in anticipation of finally being freed from its incarceration.

The Talon: Clark sat there eating his sandwich as he was alone in his own little world as Chloe watched him concerned as always. Clark had become more and more withdrawn as time had gone on and Chloe could recognize this more than anyone, and it made her nervous. Clark was the one person she knew she could always count on; he was her rock both physically and emotionally. He could offer her emotional support and be her army of one all at the same time, but she knew that between her and everything else that came up, that the responsibility was wearing him down. She could see him look longingly out the window every now and then and she knew that one day she might go to the farm and he'd be gone.

"_Could the world survive without a super man?_" she wondered as she always did. But she would never voice these thoughts out loud, Clark would likely get defensive about it and just leave and Chloe needed him now more than ever with 33.1 in full swing.

"Clark?" she asked snapping him out of his reverie. "If there's ever anything wrong you know you can tell me right?"

"I know Chloe, but I'm fine, trust me," said Clark with a half-hearted smile that did nothing to soothe Chloe's feelings. "What's Lois up to?"

"Oh the usual, trying to get by one story to the next," said Chloe sighing.

"Has she made any headway with Lex's super soldier project?" asked Clark. Chloe just shook her head slowly at that.

"She's got the resolve I'll give her that, but that's about it," she responded. "I keep praying she'll get some breakthrough but since this is Lex we're talking about, I'm not holding my breath. As bad as that sounds."

Clark nodded and once again retreated into his inner sanctum to Chloe's disappointment. But a few moments later to her surprise he began looking around confused.

"Clark, what is it?" she asked not sure the cause of his attention.

"I have to go," said Clark getting up hurriedly and heading for the exit.

"Clark," said Chloe chasing after him and grabbing his arm to stop him. "What's wrong?"

Clark looked at her and then down at her hand and before Chloe could blink he was gone and her hand had been left where he once was.

"Clark…" she said sadly as the wind briefly whipped through the air marking his passing at superspeed.

Metropolis: At the top of LuthorCorp. Lionel Luthor sat at his chair sipping some champagne from his drinking glass when the wind whipped through his office signaling the arrival of Clark Kent.

"Ah, Clark so good of you to come," said Lionel amicably. Clark looked at him through narrow eyes.

"What is it you want Lionel?" he demanded.

"Oh this time it's not about me I assure you," said Lionel holding up his hands in defense. "It's he who summoned you I just provided the location for the meeting."

Clark looked behind him to see two red dots shining out of a darkened corner of the room before the Martian Manhunter became visible.

"We have a problem Kal-El," said the Manhunter wasting no time in getting down to business. "Doomsday is coming."

Underground: The creature finally succeeded in clawing its way out of its metal coffin and now began the arduous task of digging itself out of the tons of dirt and rocks that it was now buried under. But the creature did not complain, it did not talk, it just continued on its course to escape from this earthly tomb.

Luthorcorp: "Doomsday is coming?" asked Clark dully. "Again?"

"Kal-El this isn't a joke," insisted the Martian Manhunter uncertain as to why the Kryptonian would take this matter so lightly. "Doomsday is coming and we need to stop it."

"So what form is it taking?" asked Clark wistfully. "Nuclear War, Lex's schemes, global warming, what?"

"Doomsday is not a colloquialism Kal-El it is the name your father gave the creature when it was finally captured on Krypton," answered the Jonn J'onzz. "For had it not been, it would have brought about Krypton's end long before it finally exploded on its own."

"What?" asked Clark confused. "You mean…there's another Zoner?"

"As much as I deplore the use of such a simplistic term, yes there is another prisoner of the Phantom Zone still on this world," answered the Martian.

"Ugh," said Clark rolling his eyes. "Just what I needed another headache."

"If the Prisoners of the Phantom Zone were a headache Kal-El then this particular one would be the equivalent of a migraine that could kill you," said Jonn. "Doomsday is not to be trifled with. He is death, rage, and bloodlust personified. He cannot be reasoned with, he cannot be bought off, and he will only stop when every living creature in the universe is dead."

"But he's still a Zoner," Clark pointed out. "And we've dealt with the worst of them. I took out Titan and Zod and you took out Aldar, believe me whatever this new guy is he can't be worse than them."

Clark made a motion to leave when the Martian Manhunter blocked his path.

"You don't understand Kal-El," said Jonn desperately trying to show how dangerous this new threat was. "At least Zod, Aldar, and Titan were allowed to roam free in the Zone, Doomsday had to be bound and gagged and sealed inside a metal coffin and then placed inside the Phantom Zone. He couldn't be allowed to roam free otherwise he could have escaped the Zone through sheer brute force."

Clark briefly hesitated at that before shrugging it off. "When he appears, call me. Until then goodbye, I have bigger things to worry about right now."

"You don't understand Kal-El, this problem cannot be solved as easily as you think. We cannot kill him and we cannot simply place him back in the Zone, we need a plan of action before he arrives!" said the Martian Manhunter angrily.

But Clark was gone at that and the Martian Manhunter only sighed.

"He doesn't understand," said the Manhunter to Lionel. "And how could he, but now his understanding is needed more than ever."

"He is very headstrong but he has every reason to be," said Lionel. "Still, if he will not do something about it, then we must."

"Unfortunately there may be nothing we can do," said the Martian Manhunter. "I have seen the images of its rampage across Krypton and if the Kryptonians as advanced as they were could barely stop its swath of destruction then I do not see how this world can hope to fair any better."

"Well I for one am not to give up on it," answered Lionel. "I have done terrible things in the past that I wish to atone for and this will just be one step on that path."

The Martian Manhunter nodded his head in agreement and then moved towards the desk to see if there was any way they could solve this problem because they did not have much time.

Underground: Doomsday kept hammering away on the ground pushing it up and up as it continued clawing its way slowly but surely up to the surface.

Surface: The ground was now visibly shaking from the impacts deep below and seismologists began to take notice and so too did the military.

Europe: A building exploded throwing debris everywhere while nearby a stealth VTOL raced through the air away from it.

"Another job well done team," said Oliver Queen aka The Green Arrow. The other members of his team were celebrating their latest victory over Lex Luthor and his experiments. Victor Stone aka Cyborg, Arthur Curry aka Aquaman, Bart Allen aka Impulse, and finally Hal Jordan aka The Green Lantern who was at the moment securing the VTOL on autopilot rounded out the rest of Ollie's team and so far they had done very well for themselves. They'd destroyed several 33.1 facilities and this one had been no harder than the last. But there were still more out there and the team was fully away of this.

"So where too Ollie?" asked Hal curious. He and Ollie had been friends for years and when Hal had come asking for a job on their team, Ollie had only been more than happy to welcome him aboard. His energy ring had also come in handy though Hal had remained tight lipped on where he had gotten it, only revealing that it existed to help them.

"Yeah man, we going to some nude beaches around here?" asked Impulse with his ever present grin. The rest of the team groaned at that.

"Hey it's not my fault we've got no hotties on this team besides me," said Impulse. "Except for that Chloe Sullivan, man what a babe!"

"She's got a boyfriend!" the rest of the team shot back.

"I never saw him, how do I know he exists?" Impulse reasoned. The team just rolled their eyes as Ollie chuckled.

"Actually you might be pleased to know that we're heading back stateside," he responded as he took a drink of some water. The team looked at him confused by that statement.

"I thought we were going to clean out the US after we finished with the rest of the world," said Hal confused.

"We're not going back to the States because of 33.1, we're going because there's something odd happening on the west coast near Coast City," said Ollie mentioning Hal's hometown. "And also near my hometown of Star City. Something buried deep underground is apparently trying to fight its way to the surface. Now who or what that is, I don't know but the local police and military probably clearly won't be able to deal with it and so that leaves it up to us to get things done," Ollie finished as he cracked his knuckles.

"You want us to expose ourselves publicly?' asked Victor a bit concerned.

"We may have to or else millions may die," said Ollie helplessly.

"What about Clark, will he help us out?" asked Hal. Ollie shrugged.

"I haven't been able to contact him but if there's trouble he should show," responded The Green Arrow. "Anyway, I hope we're able to succeed even without his help."

The others nodded and remained silent as the helicopter continued onwards.

"Are we ever going to get a babe on this team?" asked Impulse finally.

Metropolis: Chloe was in the basement of the Daily Planet sipping a latte when Lois came barging in.

"Hey Lo, what's up?" asked Chloe.

"I just wanted to say don't expect me to be hanging around the apartment for the next few days, I have a story," said Lois excited.

"Really?" asked Chloe happy for her. "What about?"

Lois looked at her suspiciously. "You sure you're not just out to steal it?"

"Lois I'm stuck in the basement of the DP, I'm not going anywhere," said Chloe reassuringly.

"Well daddy was telling me about some earthquake in California that's got the military spooked so the Inquisitor's sending me to cover it," said Lois. "So…have fun back home in nowheresville."

With that she was gone out one exit as Clark walked in another.

"Where's she off to in such a hurry?" he asked.

Chloe shrugged. "Guess something weird's going on in California that's got the military's attention."

Clark appeared thoughtful at that.

"_I wonder…_," he thought before shrugging it off.

"What is it now Clark?" asked Chloe looking up at him.

"Not much," said Clark nonchalantly as he sat down. "Would you believe me if I told you 'Doomsday' is coming?"

California, later: The ground was acting as if exploding from within as the military took up positions all around it while the police tried to keep back the throng of reporters and others come to witness what was going on.

"Keep them back!" ordered General Sam Lane to the police as the ground continued rumbling behind him throwing dirt into the air.

"Yes sir," came the response from the soldiers when General Lane's phone rang.

"Lane?" he said into it.

"Hi, daddy," came Lois's voice. Lane rubbed his hand down on his face.

"Lois now isn't the best time," he said into it as he made motions for the tanks to take up a flanking position around the disturbance.

"Yeah I can tell seeing you up there all commanding," came Lois's response.

"Commanding? Lois where the hell are you?" demanded Lane.

"Oh out here in this crowd your soldier boys seem intent on pushing back," came the response as terror crossed General Lane's face as he looked out at the crowd.

"Lois it isn't safe here you've got to get out!" he roared into the phone.

"No way, I'm here on assignment, I need a quote from you before I can leave!" Lois complained. General Lane finally spotted her amongst the mob of people and quickly tapped a corporal on the shoulder.

"See that young woman over there with the cellphone next to that tall giant," he asked as the corporal nodded. "Get her out of here now!"

The corporal nodded and made their way into the crowd.

"Daddy you can't do this I-!" began Lois when suddenly the ground erupted in one massive explosion and a massive roar permeated the air. As the dirt finally settled, to the horror of all it revealed a large greenish/gray creature with bony protrusions all over its body. It looked around at the tanks surrounding it and roared a challenge at the world. In his home, Lex Luthor looked at the creature on his TV stunned as did Lionel and the Martian Manhunter at their location at the top of Luthorcorp Tower. The creature's presence was even felt high in the air as Ollie and his team watched the screen with dread and deep in the basement of the Daily Planet as Chloe looked at the hanging television screen in shock.

"Clark…my God," she said speechless. Clark whirled around from where he had been standing and looked at the screen as the creature stared right at the camera, as if at the Kryptonian before bellowing once more its challenge to the inhabitants of this world and any would be challengers.

_Unbelievably, Doomsday is here._


	2. From the Coast to the Casino

A/N: Well Bartlett dying in the finale pretty much made this AU so just assume it's a different Bartlett here.

California: Doomsday stood eyeing the tanks for any sign of attack as General Lane stood there completely unsure as to what to do.

"Sir, we have to do something," said one of his corporals also at a loss for words.

"Right," said General Lane picking up his megaphone. "Attention…creature…We mean you no harm and if you surrender now we will grant you mercy for the damage you've already caused trying to escape from wherever you were."

The look Doomsday gave General Lane chilled him to the bone as for perhaps the first time in his life, the General saw a being radiate pure evil from its eyes. It then reached back its arm and punched a nearby tank throwing it backwards and collapsing just inches from the crowd that turned into a mob and began swarming everywhere.

"Oh for-fire!" shouted General Lane. The barrage the tanks gave the creature was absolutely deafening as explosions rocked the area and smoke obscured the area.

"Sir?" asked the corporal. Lane continued to watch the area with dread, if that thing had managed to survive hull piercing rounds at point blank range…

The creature's roar answered that question as it came racing out of the smoke completely unharmed save for a coating of ash and began punching tanks left and right causing them to go flying off into the crowd, killing whomever they fell on.

"Lois!!!" shouted General Lane, but he couldn't see her in the mass of people swarming about to know if she was alive or not.

"Sir, orders!" shouted the corporal as a tank exploded flinging them off of their feet from the resulting shockwave.

"Get all remaining soldiers to do what they can to get the beast's attention and lure it away from here and have the police officers try and get some order to this mob," ordered General Lane as he got to his feet. But to his dismay, a shadow crossed over them as Doomsday went flying through the air after taking a massive leap. It then came crashing down on the crowd, killing many on landing, before leaping again and heading off towards Coast City.

"Sir!" shouted the corporal. Lane watched the creature go, having killed countless people in the span of less than a minute.

"Alert Coast City civil defense and alert the Air Force too," said General Lane at a loss for it all. "Tell them…doomsday is coming."

Metropolis: The entire newsroom was deadly silent, everyone beyond belief at the destruction that had just occurred.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," said the managing editor of the basement. "Orders from Chief Kahn, get back to work on what you were doing. If anyone's being assigned to this case you'll be notified first."

Clark headed for the exit when Chloe caught up to him.

"Clark you have to take me with you," Chloe pleaded. Clark looked at her doubtful.

"Chloe I'm an alien not a taxi service," he said getting ready to go. But Chloe wouldn't be refused and she stood in front of him.

"I need to know Lois is safe," she insisted. Clark looked away not wanting to deal with this right now.

"Chloe if I take you I won't be able to guarantee your safety," Clark said. "You saw what that thing did, I'll have my hands full and I can't be worried that you'll get yourself hurt."

"Clark I'm touched, really I am, but I'll be fine," Chloe promised. "Please, I have to go."

Clark rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration before grabbing Chloe's shoulders as if to deliberately move her to the side. Chloe closed her eyes to summon up her courage to confront him once more but when she opened them she was in broad daylight in the middle of a mass of people.

"Be safe," Clark warned and then vanished. Chloe looked around and saw the upended tanks and various army personnel running around as explosions rang out in the nearby Coast City.

"Wow," she said speechless before turning sober. "Be safe Clark."

Coast City: A tall skyscraper came crashing down on the main thoroughfare as Doomsday continued its rampage oblivious to the panicking of the city's population except to tear apart anyone that got within reach. It roared in pleasure at the devastation as fires raged everywhere and emergency personnel tried desperately to respond to the ever enlarging carnage and chaos. It was into this chaos that Clark Kent found himself, for once truly out of his league. For of all the destruction that Zod had created on Dark Thursday, it was nothing in comparison to this. Then the rioting had been the result of a complete lack of power but here it had a physical source that people could identify and couldn't be solved as easily as just turning the power back on. Aldar and Titan had been fought in relatively secluded areas, but here there were people everywhere and if Clark fought this Doomsday person, he'd risk not only exposing his secret but risk killing even more in the ensuing battle. His only option now was to somehow get this fight out of the city as quickly as possible. So with that he rushed in at superspeed and came to a halt in front of Doomsday.

"Hey, Doomsday!" shouted Clark above the noise of the chaos around them. The creature didn't appear to respond to that name, but it did respond to the Kryptonian's pose of challenge by temporarily stopping its rampage and stood greatly encompassing the smaller being with its massive size.

"I know you want death and destruction and I know that you want to fight to me," Clark continued trying not to be intimidated by the size differential. "But not here. We can fight outside the city limits but not within. So what do you say to that?" he asked. The creature's response was a punch that came so fast that Clark barely managed to avoid it, still getting cut in the process on his cheek, a cut that immediately drew blood from one of Doomsday's bony protrusions. Clark reacted with shock; it had taken several blows from Titan to puncture his skin and even then it had been his lip. Yet for Doomsday to have done so with just a glancing blow was perhaps a true testament to his power.

"Fine, it's your funeral," said Clark began to get pissed off. He rushed Doomsday at superspeed and unleashed a punch that would have thrown Titan off of his feet. But the resulting blow to Clark's stunned silence merely caused Doomsday to skid backwards a few feet before coming to a complete halt. It then looked at the Kryptonian with perhaps a mild sense of being unimpressed before it unleashed a punch that sent Clark flying through the air and through a nearby skyscraper near the fifteenth floor before crashing into the next skyscraper somewhere near the thirtieth. Clark sat there slumped against the wall that had finally halted his backward momentum, unable to muster the strength to even get up as the people in the office he had entered rushed everywhere in a panic as more explosions were heard outside rocking Coast City. After everyone had gone, did Clark finally try and haul himself to his feet and he stood there desperately trying to catch his breath, grateful he hadn't broken anything. But before he could slowly make his way back to the fighting, the Martian Manhunter appeared, hovering outside the hole he had made.

"Kal-El, this is a fight you cannot win!" insisted the Martian. "You have to try a different tactic, if all you use is brute strength you will loose!"

"If you're too scared to fight this thing that's fine," said Clark bitterly. "But people are dying out there and I'm the only one who can help them!"

With that he was gone as the Martian Manhunter watched him go with pity before blasting off into the sky.

Ground: Doomsday punched his way straight through an MTD bus and then took one end of it and launched it at a nearby news helicopter that went down in flames killing even more. Doomsday was about to continue on its rampage when a blur caused a wall of flames to part as Clark came racing in with an uppercut that knocked Doomsday off of his feet. Above, several news helicopters tried to cover the event despite the ensuing carnage.

"This is Cat Grant filling in for Juliet Louise who was tragically killed by the monster's rampage already," said 20 year old blonde Cat Grant in one of the helicopters as she held on for dear life as it was buffeted by the explosions and flying debris. "So far the monster's rampage is seemingly unchecked as…Wait, what is that?"

The camera zoomed in on a figure that was fighting it out with the creature.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is amazing but someone is _fighting_ the creature," said Cat utterly confused. "Quick zoom in on him!"

As the camera zoomed in, the feed immediately died.

"We've lost visual," said the technician. "And it looks like everyone else has too."

"How is that possible, did we loose a transmitter?" said Cat. The technician shrugged.

"I don't know but we've still got audio, keep talking!" said the technician. Cat nodded and picked her microphone back up.

"This is Cat Grant continuing with you despite technical difficulties," she continued.

Metropolis: Lionel Luthor breathed a sigh of relief as he had managed to use Luthorcorp technology to cut all videofeed of the fight as he communicated with the Martian Manhunter on their possibly plans of action now that Doomsday had appeared.

Air: The Queen Industries Jet was passing over Kentucky as it raced faster and faster towards Coast City.

"No doubt that was Clark," said Ollie looking at the darkened screen.

"Then we may as well turn around now, boyscout's got it in the bag," said Aquaman with a grin. Ollie shook his head.

"No he doesn't. You saw that security camera footage we got from our local Queen Industries building, that person who slammed into it also had to have been Clark. If that thing managed to hit him that far than he is in trouble," Ollie stated. "And we have to get there now! Hal, how's it going?"

"I'm using my ring to pour as much thrust into the engines but it's still going to be another three hours before we get there," came the response from the cockpit.

"Gentlemen, better prepare yourselves we're going to be in for the fight of our lives," said Ollie as he began engaging in a series of stretches to prepare as the others nodded grimly.

Colorado: An aging Boeing 737 flew across the state heading for California as well. Inside, Lex and Bartlett were listening to Cat Grant's radio broadcast with extreme interest.

"Oh this is so much more than I could have hoped for," said Lex excited beyond belief. "One alien more powerful than any of those others, another super-powered person fighting it, and a chance to show off my 33.1 Projects, dreams really do come true."

"To success sir," offered Bartlett. Lex nodded.

"To the success of Project Ares," he agreed with an evil grin spreading across his face.

California: Clark went crashing through the a massive sign welcoming individuals to Coast City before rolling away as Doomsday came crashing down on the spot where he had once been. Clark returned to his feet and looked at the creature. The Kryptonian was breathing heavily and had various cuts across his body, but if the creature had been affected by their fight it sure wasn't showing it. Wind gusts around him signaled the presence of more helicopters as Clark reached for the hat he had grabbed off the rack to complement his pair of sunglasses and change of clothes to conceal his identity. Doomsday meanwhile had taken off by taking gigantic leaps, apparently intent on some eastward course that belayed all explanation; perhaps to taunt Clark's inability to stop him from killing more civilians. The Kryptonian responded the only way he knew how by accelerating once more to top speed and chasing after him.

Above them, a military helicopter raced by amongst the others trying to keep a track of their course.

"Sir, we've set up mines and mortars along their apparent path and we've got air units nearby awaiting orders for a strike," said the corporal to General Lane.

"Excellent," he said pleased. "And our tank positions?"

"We've got them set up in a standard formation ready to fire on your command," responded the corporal producing a map of everyone's location.

"Wow you're really on top of things," said Lois with a grin. General Lane scowled at that. He hadn't wanted to bring along Lois and Chloe but he knew that if he didn't have them safe with him they'd just get themselves in harm's way and those were two deaths he'd rather never have to explain.

"But General," said Chloe concerned for Clark. "What of the second person down there trying to stop that creature?"

"As far as I'm concerned they're both too dangerous to be kept alive," said the General. "I need to worry about the lives of every civilian in their path. Unit 1 you are cleared to fire."

Chloe looked out at the battle below them with dread as miles away a wave of tanks began shelling the area.

Below: Clark slammed right into Doomsday's back and rushed forward as fast as he could while artillery shells and mine blasts went of all around him. He shoved Doomsday as far as he could before the beast slammed his razor sharp bones spikes growing out of his elbows directly into Clark's sides causing him to fall in pain as blood poured out his wounds. He lay there in severe pain as Doomsday stood over him with its right arm reared back ready to perhaps give him the final blow. But before it could, Clark's eyes lit up and he fired his laser beams at Doomsday flinging him off of his feet and backwards onto the ground. Clark still lay there on the ground drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness as blood spilled all around him. He looked up and saw a sign that read: 'Welcome to Nevada'.

"You sure see the sights on this job," he said as he coughed out a bit of blood as Doomsday returned to his feet and once more looked down at the Kryptonian. But before Clark could summon up his strength to fire off another blast, Doomsday kicked him hard to the stomach and the Kryptonian went soaring off into the horizon before Doomsday turned around and bounded off back on its eastward course.

Helicopter: "Now where are they?" demanded General Lane using his binoculars but spotting nothing.

"Somewhere near the California/Nevada border," answered the corporal. General Lane dropped his binoculars.

"Impossible, nothing moves that fast!" he said. Chloe swallowed nervously at all of this.

"Well that's where they are," said the corporal helpless to do anything about it. "Oh wait, one of them is now flying off to the North apparently the larger one 'kicked' him."

"Oh no, Clark," said Chloe underneath her breath, fearful for his safety.

"Do we have an ID on the smaller more 'human' combatant?" asked Lane. The corporal shook his head.

"Alright since the larger one is still where he's supposed to be, get him before he hits Las Vegas," ordered Lane.

"Yes sir!" said the corporal reaching for his radio.

Yuma Desert: Clark crashed into the ground and went skidding along it plowing up rocks, sand, and cactuses before coming to a halt. Clark once more fought to get to his feet as he climbed up a cactus that thankfully didn't puncture his skin. But before Clark could superspeed off again, his actions were hampered by the arrival of the Martian Manhunter.

"Now do you believe me?" he stated crossing his arms.

"Either help me or get out of the way," said Clark brushing past him. The Martian Manhunter merely pushed lightly on him as he passed to make Clark stumble to try and prove his point. But Clark would hear none of it and he vanished leaving a trail of parted sand behind.

Las Vegas Strip: Tourists ran down the strip in panic as behind them, the Eiffel Tower Restaurant came crashing down taking out the miniature Arc De Triomphe. Doomsday was making its way down the strip oblivious to the small arms fire directed at it. It kept walking until a massive spear impaled it through the chest and instantly began glowing red hot. The creature spun around to see Clark Kent standing there heavily out of breath and resting his hands on his legs.

"Burn," he stated darkly. But the creature didn't respond, it just ripped the spear that had come from the top of the Eiffel Tower out of its chest and launched it at the Kryptonian who didn't have the strength to avoid the shot and took a glancing blow to the shoulder and fell down on his butt. Before the creature could advance on his weakened state, Clark sucked in as much air as he could and blew it out at Doomsday who now had to fight hurricane strength winds. But it still pressed onwards towards the ever weakening Kal-El of Krypton. In response Clark poured whatever energy he had left into one final blast of his optic beams that slammed into the beast engulfing it in flames. This went on for a few more moments before Clark completely ran out of juice and just lay there panting heavily. But once more to Clark's astonishment, Doomsday walked through the smoke barely phased aside from some more ash on its bones. It then picked up Clark by his collar and held him up. Clark closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable and was punched so hard that he was knocked completely unconscious. It was only by luck that the punch was so hard that it ripped Clark's collar causing him to be torn from Doomsday's grasp and continue his course into a nearby casino taking out various gambling machines and tables before coming to a halt, out cold.

Doomsday turned around to continue its course when bright lights shone all over it. Out of the brightness came several darkened figures.

"I am Lex Luthor," said one of them. "And this is as far as you go."

The 33.1 experiments rushed the beast and the battle instantly escalated.


	3. The Ultimate Gamble

Midnight Las Vegas, McCarran International Airport: Airplanes were rushing across the tarmacs desperate to take off, filled to the brim with passengers as military transports also began landing to try and evacuate as many as they could. It was into this chaos that General Lane, Chloe Sullivan, and Lois Lane found themselves. Panic and chaos reigned everywhere as the military did their best to fight it out with the crowd, to varying degrees of success.

"Was this what it was like on Dark Thursday?" asked Lois slightly apprehensive while watching her father talk things out with a local commander.

Chloe nodded shivering in the cool air. "It was a nightmare Lois, one I don't want to experience ever again."

"Well at least there's some order here, daddy's usually very good at scaring people into doing what he wants them to do," said Lois with a grin. Chloe tried to smile too, but the fires raging in the background in the city itself pretty much took that idea away. She looked around at the various airplanes to try and divert her attention from the devastation when her eyes fell on one in particular.

"Is that a LuthorCorp jet?" she asked staring at the airplane that was across the airfield. But before anyone could respond, an object went flying across the field and straight into a passing jet taking out one of the landing struts causing it to collapse onto the ground before exploding in a gigantic fireball flinging debris everywhere.

"Oh my G-," began Lois over the screams of voices all over the place as whatever order had been established vanished completely as people swarmed everywhere. Lois and Chloe bolted for the relative safety of the top of one of the airport rescue vehicles as from the flames Doomsday appeared with several armored individuals clinging to its body, attempting to stop its forward movement. One rushed in at extremely fast speeds and began punching it even faster before the beast's fist connected with it in a bone crunching thud that sent the person flying straight at the vehicle Lois and Chloe were on top of. The resulting impact was so forceful that it caused the vehicle to be thrown off of its wheels and only by pure luck were Chloe and Lois able to leap off of it in time as the truck went crashing across the ground taking out anyone and everyone in its path.

"C'mon Chloe, we've got to go!" said Lois tugging at her shoulder. Chloe shook her head.

"Not until I've seen what that thing just threw at us!" she shouted breaking free and rushing for the truck. More explosions tore up the airfield as the military began firing on the beast while civilians scattered everywhere. Chloe and Lois slowly made their way to the now destroyed vehicle and looked at the person now embedded into it. Chloe nearly hurled at the sight of the person, their skull was nearly crushed flat from the hit it had received and blood was still gushing out of the center of its head from one of Doomsday's bone spikes on its knuckles, with even some brain matter visible. The rest of the body was no better off, with the uniform torn in various places with more blood soaking the entire area.

"Lois," said Chloe, covering her nose as best she could from the smell. Lois was only faring slightly better having seen a few dead bodies in her day but none as bad as this.

"Lois!" Chloe insisted. "Does this guy look anything at all like Wes was when he died?"

The mentioning of Wes's name kicked Lois's mind into gear as she looked at the body in question.

"Yes," she confirmed nodding grimly. "Yes, he has the same clothes on. Now can we go? It's not safe here."

Another explosion rocked the area as Doomsday continued its trek through the flames even as the rest of Project Ares continued fighting it from all sides, even after Doomsday picked one up and impaled it through one of the spikes growing out of its kneecaps. On top of the main terminal, Lex Luthor watched his experiments and their unsuccessful attempt to stop Doomsday with disgust.

"You said Project Ares would be unstoppable," he said angrily through gritted teeth. The new scientist in charge of the project gulped nervously as he wiped sweat from his forehead, though whether from the fire or from being afraid of Lex's wrath even he wasn't sure.

"Mr. Luthor I assure you that what is happening out there is a result of that thing being too strong and not because our creations are too weak," the scientist chose as his line of reasoning. Lex did not respond to that but shifted his focus to the creature in question.

"And what about this new arrival?" inquired Lex. "What have you managed to learn about it?"

"Nothing," said the scientist helplessly. "Absolutely nothing."

"What do you mean nothing?" demanded Lex. "Have you managed to obtain any cellular tissue from it?"

"No sir that thing has not bled once as far as we can tell," Bartlett answered. "It also has yet to shed a single cell that could possibly be used for any type of analysis."

"How is that even possible?" demanded Lex.

"We don't know sir. The creature must have been genetically engineered," Bartlett surmised. Lex turned to look at him out of the corner of his eye.

"If it can be engineered it can be de-engineered," he said with malice before returning his attention. "We may need to consider passing out the shock cannons to our remaining super soldiers."

"It may be too late for that sir we've already suffered eighty percent losses," said Bartlett looking at his blackberry and reading the remaining life signs emanating from the remaining soldiers's biopacks. Lex's arms fell down to the side and the binoculars clattered to the ground breaking. Lex spun around and eyed them with pure fury in his eyes, enhanced by the firelight reflecting off of his irises.

"You're telling me out of the thirty soldiers we brought with us, only six are remaining!" he roared. "That's at least 24 million dollars lost in only twenty minutes!"

"25 sir," amended Bartlett. "No, 26…27…28…29…"

Lex spun around and stared out at the ruined airport as in the only area of calm amongst the chaotic airfield, Doomsday held up the final super soldier by palming its entire head and then squeezed. A stomach sickening pop later, blood seeped through the beast's fingers as it dropped the final soldier dead onto the ground. Lex's resulting roar, powerful though it was, was still drowned out by Doomsday's roar in challenge for the rest of the world.

Las Vegas Strip: Firefighters were doing their best to put out the fires that were still burning up and down US Highway 91. But up at the top level of the MGM Grand it was relatively peaceful as the entire place had been abandoned and the only people left were the looters. Two in particular were looting one room that had a huge gaping hole in it that oddly enough seemed like it had been caused by an outside force, even though the rest of the hotel was seemingly untouched.

"The hell do you think caused this?" asked one to the other as they stood at the edge of the hole looking out at the Strip beyond.

"Damned if I know, but whatever it was it's my best friend. Whoever was in here must've been some rich old bastard because this place is loaded!" said the other with glee holding up several diamond necklaces. "Now c'mon before I push you out that window and take all this stuff for myself."

His partner nodded and moved to join him. As they were throwing whatever they could into their sacks, a rumbling noise was heard from behind a large chunk of the ceiling that had come loose and was on the far side of the room opposite the hole in the side of the suite.

"The hell-?" began the second member, and apparent leader of the duo. The large chunk slowly began shifting ever so slightly as if something behind it was straining to push it off of them.

"You don't think…" began the first member trembling slightly with fear. The second pulled out his gun and aimed it at the ceiling chunk. The chunk began moving outwards from the far wall even more this time.

"That creature can't be here can it?" said the first one panicking.

"No you idiot it's at the airport," said the second flipping on the TV that showed an exhausted Cat Grant outside a chain link fence reporting what she could see from her vantage point as the camera zoomed in on a chunk of pavement that went hurtling up into the night sky taking out an Apache Helicopter that promptly exploded flinging pieces of it everywhere. The voice of Cat Grant reporting on the carnage seemed to prompt the ceiling chunk to move even faster until it found itself crashing across the room. From where it had been, a battered and bloody individual stood up with torn jeans, red coat, and blue undershirt. It looked at the two criminals with passive eyes.

"Put back all of your stolen stuff where it belongs and I may show you mercy," the person stated.

"Like hell buddy," said the second opening fire without a second thought as the first one reluctantly joined in. They emptied their entire clips and could only stand there in stunned silence as the being still stood apparently untouched. Immediately after the two realized this, the individual's eyes lit up and red optic beams erupted from them blasting their guns away.

"What the hell are you?" demanded the second terrified. The individual slanted their head to the side as if thinking about this.

"The last boy scout," was all it said as in a flash the two robbers found themselves and their loot on the pavement outside directly in front of a pair of police officers. The two cops looked at each other surprised before slowly reaching down and arresting the two, who offered no resistance.

McCarran International Airport: Lois and Chloe had gotten separated amongst the chaotic crowd and now Chloe found herself in a situation not along the one during Dark Thursday. But she resolved to remain calm and knew that somehow she would survive this. But those hopes immediately vanished when Doomsday came crashing down in the crowd right in front of her and began wiping out people left and right. And then there were no more left nearby except a Chloe Sullivan about to go into convulsions. Doomsday's fists came flying down on her and all Chloe could hope for would be that it was quick and painless.

But she never got her chance as a red and blue blur swept her up and at the same time sent Doomsday flying before coming to a halt inside the relative safety of the airport terminal. As Chloe opened her eyes, she saw a grim and determined Clark Kent with clothing nearly torn to shreds and blood caked all over his body.

"Clark you're alive," she said grateful as she hugged him tightly as the Kryptonian winced in pain.

"I've got to go," he stated breaking from her grasp and turned to go.

"Clark no, if you fight him like you are now you'll die!" pleaded Chloe. "Doomsday's unstoppable!"

"That may be," Clark conceded. "But too many are already dead and too many more lives are in jeopardy and I'm the only who can stop this thing's rampage. I don't have any choice. It just comes with saving people's lives and taking zero credit for it, a friend taught me that."

With that he was gone in a burst of speed that caused a sonic boom to erupt inside the terminal causing the outside glass to instantly shatter as the red and blue blur slammed straight into Doomsday and both vanished into the eastern horizon as the sun slowly started to rise. Chloe was still staring out the window in tears when Lois and General Lane finally found her a few minutes later.

"Hey you," Lois said reassuringly, putting her arm around her. "You look like you just saw a close friend die."

Chloe looked at her through bloodshot eyes and nodded slowly to herself before trying to calm down by wiping away her tears.

"War is never a pretty thing to look at," said General Lane trying his best to help her through this as he looked out at the devastation. "But eventually it comes to an end and then you pick up the pieces and start again, hopefully for the better."

"So what's going to happen now?" Chloe asked. "What about the Doomsday monster?"

"Well apparently the other being that fought it earlier showed up again and drove it away from here and for that I am thankful," said the General before he turned slightly downtrodden. "But…"

"But what?" said Chloe as a sinking feeling grew in her stomach. General Lane sighed.

"It has been decided by the higher ups that these two beings have the power to tear apart this world with their raw hands if left alone. Right now they are too busy fighting each other to take that opportunity and they're not to be given that chance," said Lane. "The military has been waiting for the two combatants to enter an area with relatively few civilians nearby that could be immediately evacuated. Well that time is now. The other alien managed to push Doomsday, as we're now calling him, into New Mexico before the fighting recommenced, and this is as good an opportunity as we can hope to get because any further East and secluded areas will become fewer and fewer."

"What's going to happen?" Chloe said as anger and fear threatened to boil over in her system. The General shot a look to her and Lois.

"What I am telling you is in the strictest confidentiality and should not be given to your papers beforehand or you will face criminal charges against the United States of America," he stated. Chloe and Lois both gave their agreement as the General looked at the clock and then at his watch.

"In approximately fifteen minutes the largest tactical nuclear warhead the United States has ever built will be dropped on them," explained the General. "We're looking at approximately a 50 megaton explosion to rival the Tsar Bomba. It is a last resort weapon; something the US has never acknowledged exists as it is twice as powerful as anything the armed forces have ever had the guts to build. When it goes off nothing will be left standing."

"General you can't do this!" shouted Chloe.

"Better they both die then have another Vegas or Coast City on our hands," said Lois dismissively.

"But General-," began Chloe.

"The decision is out of my hands it's already been made. We knew they were heading East and so the military has quietly evacuated everyone from the soon to be affected areas," said Lane curtly. "Now if you will excuse me I have to go oversee the continued evacuation of this city. Be careful though not to stand near any open ledges, we'll likely be able to feel and see the blast from here."

With that the General was gone and Chloe immediately collapsed.

"Clark I…" she said helplessly before just sitting there in shock staring out the window.

Los Alamos, New Mexico: Clark and Doomsday were pounding away on each other when Clark heard a jet engine noise with his super hearing.

"_Just one plane, I'd have thought there would've been more_," thought Clark disappointed as he ducked a punch and threw another one. Though he couldn't prove it, Clark could've sworn that Doomsday was starting to slow down and it gave Clark the strength to push on fighting.

Elsewhere: The Queen Industries Jet roared across the Texas/New Mexico Border headed for Los Alamos. The entire team was suited up and ready for action and Ollie was prepping them.

"Sorry AC, but there's not a lot of water in New Mexico so you'll kind of be out of your element," said Ollie chuckling as the Arthur Curry just shook his head at that.

"What part about me training in water my whole life makes me faster and stronger on land don't you understand?" he asked.

"Anyway the point is that we'll be out in the open and that won't provide us a lot of cover. We'll have to all keep on the move because this thing has managed to tear up half of Coast City and Las Vegas and Clark is _still_ fighting him," Ollie continued. "If we slip up we'll die and in business they teach us it's easier to maintain existing customers than it is to recruit new ones. I like to think the same thing holds true for us as well so don't make me have to go looking for new recruits to replace your sorry butts. I'll be sure to tell them all of your little secrets when they do."

The team laughed at that and all put their hands together.

"For Justice," said the Green Arrow.

"For Truth," added Cyborg.

"For the babes," said Impulse.

"For Lois," said Aquaman before he began laughing at Ollie's expression at that. "Okay, for the Atlantian way then."

"Ollie can you get up here," said Hal piloting the plane.

"To the Junior Lifeguard Association!" they all said as they broke. Ollie entered into the cockpit.

"What's up?" he asked taking the copilot seat. Hal took off his headphones and placed them beside him.

"I'm getting automated warnings from the Air Force to turn back, not only from Los Alamos but the entire state in general," said Hal. Ollie looked confused by this.

"So? We expected something like this already, you said you could outmaneuver anything in the sky," said Ollie.

"Yeah the problem being that there's nothing here to outmaneuver," Hal shot back. Silence filled the cockpit at that and Ollie shut the door so the others couldn't hear their conversation.

"You're saying that the Air Force isn't about to force us to land," Ollie ventured as his mind raced trying to figure out the implications of that.

"Oh it gets worse," said Hal chuckling nervously. "I used our satellite in orbit to try and get a clearer idea of what's going on. All air traffic west of the Mississippi has been permanently grounded, again on the military's authority. So naturally I tried to scan the area for heat signatures to determine the army's position. They aren't there. In fact, everything within a two hundred mile radius of Los Alamos has been completely evacuated."

Hal produced a printout of a thermal image of the Southwestern United States and sure enough, two hundred miles expanding outwards, it was almost a black spot. Oliver's heart went cold at that and he dropped the readout in stupor. He breathed in deeply and sat staring out the cockpit window at the blue skies ahead of them and the small clouds that dotted the skies around them.

"What do you think is going to happen?" the CEO of Queen Industries asked sadly. Hal sighed.

"I think something very bad is about to happen and I think Clark may need us now more than ever," answered the pilot also not feeling any better about what he knew was coming. Ollie held his head in his hands in pain of the decision he was about to make.

"We don't have a choice do we?" he asked. Hal shook his head.

"Nope," he answered as he reached for the throttle. "Like you said, we're heroes. Save the cheerleader save the world and all that."

Ollie looked at Hal's hand that was now clasped firmly on the throttle.

"Do it," he ordered. Hal nodded and slammed it forward and the aircraft began picking up speed headed towards Los Alamos.

Sky above Los Alamos: A B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber coasted high above Los Alamos in a circular pattern waiting for the final command to be given.

"Colonel Grady," said the copilot looking at a command code that had just flashed across the screen and then looking at their own codeword. "The order is given."

The pilot, Colonel Grady, nodded grimly.

"Do it," he ordered. A whistling noise was heard from the bottom of the aircraft as the Colonel reached for the throttle and shoved it forward as the bomber fled the area.

_For nearly the entire United States, it was as if a second sun had risen as the effects of the bomb could be felt at least 600 miles away. The resulting mushroom cloud was nearly 40 miles high and 20 miles wide with an ensuing fireball that left a three mile wide crater in the sands of where the first atomic bomb had ever been tested. It was a day few would ever forget as only once before in the history of mankind had such a weapon ever been detonated. Then it had been called the Tsar Bomba or 'Emperor Bomb', here it was known as something much simpler, Alpha Omega. Where the bomb had hit, rock had been turned to ash and everything else standing vaporized. It was almost literally the Beginning of the End because it was 4000 times more powerful that what had been dropped on Hiroshima. And so the world watched and waited with baited breath to see if this 'doomsday' weapon had done its job and was truly worth the risk of living up to its name_.


	4. Justice

Metropolis, 1 week after the bomb was dropped: Chloe Sullivan sat once more in the basement of the Daily Planet typing aimlessly. After the bomb had been dropped, the military had searched the entire area and found nothing. No trace of either combatant was found and slowly life was returning to normal. The area around Los Alamos was still a mess and there were several committees investigating if the military's action was really warranted on that scale, but those were primarily just for show. The fallout was another problem but the weather had thankfully been favorable enough to limit radioactive ash from spreading too far into any populated areas and what cleanup that could be done was slowly commencing. Internationally, the blast had scared the entire world that such power still existed and Mexico had lodged an official protest to the bomb drop, but in time that too would settle.

Everything would settle except for the emptiness in Chloe Sullivan's heart. Clark had been her one constant friend throughout the years, always willing to offer her support and assistance whenever she needed it. Secretly she had always had a crush on him and on occasion had still held out hope that they would someday become closer together. Over time that feeling had faded and she found herself in a relationship with Jimmy Olsen that, though rocky at times particularly over Clark, had been just what she had needed in her life. Clark could never give himself totally over to anyone, he always had that need deep down to save others and in the end he had made the ultimate sacrifice for it. He had fought Doomsday and held him in one place long enough for the bomb to be successfully dropped and had saved them all. Now whatever feelings she had left unsaid would remain just that and all she could do was sit there and lament over how Clark's sacrifice would go unknown. She knew Clark wouldn't have cared for publicity, he held his secret with great care, but this world needed a hero to show them that good did still exist in the world and could triumph over evil.

But that spark of good was gone and Lex Luthor was still at large. Worse still, she had been unable to contact Oliver and his team, they too had gone missing since the blast and she had a sinking feeling why. Using her hacking skills, she had learned of what little traffic had still been in the air near the bomb blast and sure enough one of them had been a strange type of stealth jet that Chloe knew belonged to Ollie. With them gone, she was now all alone in her pursuits of truth and justice. Lois was still trying to figure out more about Project Ares sure, but still getting nowhere with it and Chloe was reluctant to explain everything and put her in more danger and then loose her like she did Clark and the others. This survivor's guilt was bad enough, she didn't want to feel it even worse than she did now and so she sat typing aimlessly on her computer.

"Hey there's my girl!" said Jimmy happily as he entered into the basement.

"Hey Jimmy," said Chloe trying to muster a smile.

"Aw, sad that the story of a lifetime came and went through your fingertips?" he said trying to be sympathetic but completely missing Chloe's reason for sadness. "Well that's okay, how about that trip to the café I promised you?"

"Yeah let's go," Chloe agreed with a larger smile as she tried to muster her spirits. She reached for her cellphone when her desk briefly rattled and it clattered to the ground.

"Here I've got it," said Jimmy picking it up for her. "Must still be those aftershocks from the blast."

"Yeah," said Chloe as they both exited the basement and headed topside.

"So where's your buddy Clark, I haven't seen him around lately," said Jimmy trying not to sound nervous and arrogant at the same time. The two exited to the morning sun shining overhead.

"Well with his mom now working in Washington, he didn't have much reason to stick around and so he went overseas," Chloe lied. She and Martha had had several conversations over the phone talking about what had happened, and what their explanation should be about Clark's disappearance. They both had decided that to go on a long trip would be the best explanation for everyone.

"Hey after what happened in New Mexico I'd be anxious to get out of here too," agreed Jimmy. "But if he calls you, tell him I said hi."

"I will," Chloe said sadly. "I will."

They entered into the café and made their selections before taking a seat by one of the windows. They began conversing about everything going on in their lives as the table began shaking from an apparent aftershock spilling their food on the floor.

"Damn aftershocks," Jimmy complained as he and the others whose food had spilled tried to collect it and dispose of it. But as they were doing that, a massive jolt rocked the entire building throwing people to the floor as tables overturned and cars jumped up and down outside.

"Jimmy that's no aftershock!" shouted Chloe before an explosion ripped through the air outside flinging cars left and right as a crack split the roadway in two and flames erupted from it straight into the sky. People began running for their lives as two massive bony hands gripped the edges and a titanic gray creature emerged from the ground.

"No," said Chloe in disbelief as she looked at the thing.

"It's Doomsday!" shouted somebody as panic flooded the café and people began bolting for the doors as Jimmy tried to snap as many photos as he could of the creature before Chloe grabbed him and the two exited out the back.

"Cheer up Chloe, your story is here!" said Jimmy heading for the street and the panicking masses anxious for that award winning photograph.

"Jimmy that's Doomsday, he'll kill us all!" she shouted incredulously. "And if he's back then that means C-…he died for nothing!"

"Who?" asked Jimmy confused as they pushed their way into the masses as fire hydrants sprayed water everywhere and damage was now littered up and down the once calm street as Doomsday began destroying cars left and right. Jimmy kept snapping photos as a pair of police cars came rushing in past them headed towards the beast. But before they could even stop, Doomsday punched one straight up into the air back the way it had come. The car came straight towards the two members of the Daily Planet, but before it could hit them a blur passed by depositing them on the sidewalk. Chloe then watched as the blur then immediately rushed back and moved in a circle creating a whirlwind that slowed the police car's descent until it landed safely on its roof. The blur then rushed back to towards them.

"Clark?" said Chloe softly, extremely hopeful.

"Fraid not babe," said Impulse as his image materialized in front of them. "It's just the boy from the future who once more ran back in time to see the girl of his dreams."

Impulse took her hand and bowed as he kissed it. Chloe groaned to herself as Jimmy pushed Bart off of her.

"Hey back off buddy she's my girlfriend!" said Jimmy forcefully. Impulse stood back looking at Jimmy doubtfully.

"The hottest girl on this planet and this is the best you could do?" he said shaking his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"I said back off!" said Jimmy really upset now as he held up his fists.

"Damn dude you are insecure," said Impulse surprised. "But hey if you want to fight over her, I'm game."

"It'll have to wait Impulse, we've got bigger things to worry about!" shouted a voice. Chloe and Jimmy both recognized that voice as the Green Arrow who was standing in broad daylight amongst the destroyed vehicles on the street watched their conversation.

"The Green Arrow is back?" Jimmy said fumbling for his camera. "Oh this is just too good."

But his camera was nowhere to be found and he looked around desperate to find it when a flash caught his attention.

"Until next time buddy boy," said Impulse holding his camera before he vanished as the Green Arrow, Cyborg, and Aquaman ran down the street before the wind kicked up as their badly damaged VTOL coasted by overhead encompassed by a green glow but still bristling with weaponry.

"Give me my camera back!" shouted Jimmy about to race after them when Chloe stopped him.

"Jimmy let it go," she said. "They're here to help, that's all that matters."

"So you say," said Jimmy doubtful as more explosions were heard as the team rounded the corner and vanished from sight.

"C'mon let's follow them!" said Jimmy taking off after them. "I still have my cellphone camera!"

Chloe looked reluctant to get in the middle of another firefight but she had to see this thing's defeat once and for all for Clark's sake and so she chased after her boyfriend.

Lex's Mansion: Lex was sitting behind his desk, his half-filled glass dangling from his hands. He was looking lucidly at his laptop that was displaying his remaining stock of Project Ares soldiers when Bartlett burst in.

"What is it?" Lex demanded. "I said I was to be left alone."

"I think this might qualify as something to be bothered with," said Bartlett as he flipped on the television screen.

"This is Cat Grant again from Metropolis News WGBS where right now the Doomsday monster has reappeared in downtown Metropolis and is now currently destroying everything in sight," continued Cat from a helicopter that was showing a birds-eye view of Doomsday's rampage. Lex sat up attentively as the creature continued its path unabated despite several police officers opening fire on it.

"Get the remaining soldiers armed with shock cannons," Lex ordered standing up and shutting off his laptop. "We're about to go to war and I will have that thing's head on my mantle."

Bartlett nodded and the two strode determined out of the room.

Metropolis: Doomsday was continuing on its rampage when a green arrow whisked by its head embedding itself into the building in front of it. The beast spun around to see the Green Arrow, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Impulse standing stolid amongst the carnage behind them as the VTOL was hanging behind them blowing up dust everywhere.

"Green Lantern; let him have it," ordered the Green Arrow. The front part of the green glow in front of the VTOL dropped as every weapon the fighter was carrying fired on the beast, from rail guns to missiles to even laser cannons all aimed at the beast as it made no move to avoid the oncoming barrage. Smoke soon blew past the area as the arrow exploded bringing down the entire building on Doomsday's head as the team stood there unflinchingly as debris rained down all around them. The team didn't even bother to ask whether they had defeated the beast, they knew if he survived a nuclear blast he would survive this barrage no problem. But the team would take any advantage they could get and this was it. Their question was soon responded to anyway as a large chunk of concrete came zooming out of the debris and slammed into the VTOL causing it to crash as Hal Jordan emerged unscathed in his Green Lantern outfit to join the other four.

"Let's go save the world," said the Green Arrow as the two sides rushed each other.

LuthorCorp: In the distance, another explosion went off as a building came crashing down as already flames and smoke began to obscure the sky.

"Damn it all," complained Lionel as he was reading through the various proposals on his desk.

"I told you; Doomsday is unstoppable," answered the Martian Manhunter standing stoically arms crossed as he looked out the window.

"Is that why you're not out there fighting?" asked Lionel still reading.

"Yes," the Martian confirmed nodding his head. "If Kal-El was unable to defeat Doomsday than neither would I be able to."

"He did manage to buy us valuable time with his sacrifice," Lionel pointed out. "The Dimension Tide is near completion."

"Yes but how we will get Doomsday immobile enough for the thing to work accurately is another matter," the Manhunter remarked. "As I recall the device did not work well against G-."

"We'll find a way," said Lionel as a green beam of energy shot out into the daytime sky. "Though this group of superindividuals Oliver Queen has dug up complicates things."

"You are certain there is little we can do to reason with them?" J'onn asked. Lionel nodded his head as a stream of water shot into the air before abruptly turning around and crashing back down onto the ground.

"Oliver Queen has little reason to trust me after my son's actions and due to my own when I was a different man," said Lionel. "And I doubt any of them have even heard of you unless Clark mentioned you in passing. No, we are on our own as I said."

"Then we must hurry or more heroes will die," said J'onn as he walked back to Lionel's desk and went over their finalized plans to rid the world of Doomsday.

Streets: Doomsday was slammed into a building by a green blast of energy as Hal Jordan dropped to the pavement in pain as he had cuts and scrapes all over his body.

"Impulse you're up!" said the Green Arrow as he helped the Green Lantern to his feet.

"You okay?" he asked. Hal nodded his head.

"Just a little light headed," he said breathing heavily. "I've never seen something that could break through my energy barrier before. That's-."

"Hot?" Ollie asked with a raised eyebrow barely visible underneath his hood. Hal chuckled despite the pain.

"Tough," he finished as Impulse streaked by in a blur to the advancing beast. The kid flash zipped around and around the creature as all the debris from their fight got swept up in his wake and soon began pelting the beast in the ensuing vortex. The cyclone soon got so strong that the other members of the team had to hang on for dear life as it began sucking anything and everything not bolted down as multiple sonic booms tore through the air. The cyclone soon began to rotate faster and faster as the circumference grew smaller and smaller until the entire thing exploded flinging debris everywhere as Impulse finally slowed down out of breath. Where the cyclone had been was nothing but wreckage.

"All in a days work," said Impulse leaning on his knees as the team moved to join him. The debris then flew apart as Doomsday once again rose from the ashes like the legendary Phoenix.

"No," said Impulse feeling defeat at the creature still being able to stand after all that.

"Cyborg you're up," said Green Arrow trying to buy them some time. Victor Stone stepped up ahead of them and began pressing random pieces on his skin. As he was doing this, a flash caught the rest of the team's attention as they saw Jimmy Olsen snapping photos of them with his camera phone. Not missing a beat, Ollie drew an arrow and held it to his bow and let it loose as it broke Jimmy's phone to pieces.

"Hey!" complained Jimmy upset as he held up the arrow. "I don't get a new one until…"

The arrow that was now in his hand began spraying sleeping gas and the photographer slumped to the ground unconscious. The team returned their attention to Doomsday as Chloe appeared.

"Oh hello Watchtower," said Ollie nonchalantly. "You'll forgive me if we don't catch up on old times but we're kind of busy here. Cyborg, how long?"

"Almost done," said Cyborg still pressing pieces of his skin. The team began backing up as Doomsday continued advancing on them.

"I'm surprised to be talking with you at all, I figured you'd died in New Mexico," Chloe admitted. Ollie nodded impressed.

"Yeah well thanks to Green Lantern and his ring here, we barely managed to make it out okay," said Ollie clapping Hal on the shoulder as Hal tried to concentrate and shoot off one more blast from his ring, but he was too exhausted.

"So where've you guys been then?" asked Chloe. Cyborg's right arm began to glow from underneath his skin as mechanical noises were heard along with something powering up.

"Decontaminating ourselves and it hasn't been easy," said Ollie. "So you might want to stay your distance we might still have some background radiation on us."

Chloe nodded and then had to ask the one question she desperately needed answered.

"Is Boy Scout…" she began before trailing off. Green Arrow turned to look at her as sympathetically as best he could behind his disguise.

"I'm sorry Watchtower," he said. "But what he started we intend to finish. Cy?"

Cyborg turned to face him with a grin.

"Locked and loaded," he said as his right arm morphed into a gigantic plasma cannon. Chloe looked at the thing surprised.

"Did he always have that?" she asked. Ollie shrugged.

"I know a guy around here who's pretty good with a hammer who upgraded him for me," responded the Green Arrow. "Now c'mon, retreat!"

The team took off with Aquaman reluctantly collecting Jimmy and they took off down the street as Cyborg stood there was his cannon aimed at Doomsday. The monstrosity stopped in its tracks and looked at the smaller individual unsure what to make of him.

"This is for Clark Kent!" Cyborg shouted as his arm began glowing and light exploded from it as a loud explosion was heard as pure energy came flying out of the end straight at the creature who took it full force. The surrounding three blocks went up in a fiery blaze from the energy shot and then the energy vanished leaving a small crater. Impulse blazed in and dragged Cyborg's body out of the crater and vanished as a bony fist punched its way out of the ground.

Metropolis International Airport: Lex Luthor disembarked from his private jet with the remains of Project Ares as planes took off loaded with passengers in an eerie repeat of what had happened in Las Vegas.

"Let's not fail here like we did earlier," said Lex fully recognizing the similarities. "I don't take failure well, twice is _very_ unacceptable."

The team continued into the airport terminal before boarding a military truck and rolling off into the city.

Oliver's Apartment: The team was tending to their injuries as video images showed Doomsday now fighting with the military and cops as Cat Grant reporting on this and the earlier rumors of a team of superheroes who managed to put up a decent fight against the creature along with grainy photographs of the team in action.

"What is this thing?" said Ollie at a loss as to how the creature could constantly have stood up to their attacks on top of what it had already received the week before at the hands of Clark and the nuclear warhead.

"All Clark told me was that it was apparently a Kryptonian experiment created to be the ultimate survivor. Its main purpose was to seek out anything and everything that could be a threat and destroy it. That's why it was sealed away in the Phantom Zone," explained Chloe.

"Is this, what Clark's been up to while we've been destroying 33.1 Facilities?" inquired Oliver. Chloe nodded sadly.

"It was something only he could deal with," said Chloe remorseful. "And so he threw himself into more and more dangerous situations to try and clean up the mess he had made until he sacrificed himself in the process."

Oliver placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "He may be gone, but we'll keep on fighting just like he would right now."

Chloe nodded wiping away tears as the elevator doors opened to everyone's surprise as a tall African-American man walked in spinning a wrench on his finger after having apparently overridden the security system.

"Hey guys," he said chewing a piece of gum as the team relaxed except for Chloe who was left confused.

"Chloe allow me to introduce our IT guy and just about the sixth member of our team, John Henry Irons," said Ollie make introductions. John smiled and shook Chloe's hand.

"I've seen your work in the Daily Planet, it's very informative," said the man with a smile.

"Well thank you," said Chloe slightly flustered as John made his way to Cyborg.

"Hey Victor," he said sitting down next to the barely moving hero. "I guess the Plasma Cannon worked like I said it would."

"Yeah but it nearly fried my power cells," Victor complained. "And without those I die."

"I apologize, I'm still working on your new cells it is just that this whole situation with Doomsday has disrupted my work," John apologized as he began rooting through his toolbox. "I'll just reset the cannon to give a lower powered blast in the meantime."

Chloe turned around to talk to Oliver but found him across the room talking with Hal and AC about battle tactics for their next encounter with Doomsday. With nothing else to do, Chloe walked over to talk more with this new arrival.

"I'm going to have to put you in sleep mode to make the necessary modifications I'm sorry," said John adjusting a device he was carrying. Victor nodded.

"Just make it quick, I don't like feeling helpless," said Cyborg uncomfortable about it all. John nodded sympathetically and powered him down before shaking his head sadly and pulling out a diagnostic kit that he hooked into Victor's arms.

"Oh hello again Ms. Sullivan," said John reading the device's information. "What can I do for you?"

"Not much," said Chloe shrugging. "I'm not really a strategy expert to help them over there but I don't like being a third wheel either so do you need any help?"

"Depends," said John as he opened an access plate in Victor's chest. "Do you know your way around a toolbox?"

"Mostly," said Chloe with a nervous laugh. John grabbed a wrench and went to work.

"Not that I mean to pry," Chloe apologized. "But I pretty much know everyone else's story and I'm curious how you met up with this group?"

"You don't need to apologize, you're a journalist it must be in your blood to be inquisitive," John reasoned. "Actually it is thanks to a man named Clark Kent."

"Clark, really?" said Chloe surprised.

"That's right," John confirmed still working away on Victor Stone. "Awhile back I got into a lot of trouble with something I had invented. Everywhere I turned no one would help me, the government, my so called 'friends', no one. I was completely alone and helpless for once in my life with nowhere left to turn as my invention was being used for so much evil. I dropped further and further into depression and soon I was wandering the streets homeless and completely destitute and having fully recognized that I was going to die abandoned and alone sort of like Victor here," John continued as his voice became very sad at the whole predicament he had been in. "Then one day I'm walking around out in the middle of the business district where they're doing construction remembering the days when I used to invent and the wind blows one of the cranes on top of a building directly off of its perch and it comes falling down to the pedestrian filled sidewalk below."

"I remember that," said Chloe remembering doing some work on that particular story, the whole idea was a living nightmare.

"So most everyone has already managed to run from the falling debris and find shelter but there's this one kid, in his real young teens, who's listening to his music and doesn't notice the situation around him. And something in me just kicks deep down in my gut and even though I know I'll probably die, I still rush through the falling debris to save him. I barely get to him in time and shove him out of the way to safety, but time was up for me. I look straight into the sky and see the crane just inches from my face and time almost seems to freeze. I see my entire life flash before my eyes and I hate what I see, I hate what I had done. I was going to die while people continued to bad things because I gave them the means to do it. And I also know that there are no heroes out there to stop them. I saved someone, I did a good deed, but who would save me? The answer in my mind was no one and so I was truly prepared to die a broken man," said John as his eyes began to water. "But I was wrong. I heard this strange whooshing noise like a jetstream and my vision instantly becomes blurry and the next thing I know I'm in a darkened alleyway hearing the crane hit the ground around the corner. The other thing I notice is that there's a darkened individual in red and blue standing there in the alley looking like a…an angel sent from above. I know in my mind that he saved me and I try to come up with some way to thank him for putting his life in harm's way but before I can say anything, he holds up his hand to stop me and do you know what he says?"

"No," said Chloe softly, mesmerized by the story.

"He says 'thank you'," said John incredulously. "A man who didn't know anything about me, what I had done, who saved me with superhuman powers, a man who could have demanded my complete and utter servitude to him and all he can say is 'thank you'. Utterly speechless at his graciousness I asked him what for and he said because I saved that kid even knowing that I would die. I told him that I didn't deserve to be thanked because of what I had done and all he says is that it doesn't matter what I did before, it only matters what I did just now that does. Then on top of that, he actually has the compunction to ask _me_, a man who he didn't even know anything about, how he could help me in return. No one I have ever known has ever asked if they could help me with something if they weren't being forced to and to me it was like the floodgates opening.

I told him literally everything about what had been happening in my life up to that point and he just stands there listening to it all taking it all in, never once being overwhelmed by it all or just leaving like anyone else would have done. I finally finish with my story and I just stand there waiting for the other shoe to drop where he says that he can't help me, that I am on my own and that this was a one time only deal but instead I get 'so what are we going to do about it?'. And we did. He helped me solve the problem all while treating me as an equal and not as a bum who could not rely on himself to solve his own problems," John continued. "When we were done, I asked him how I could ever repay him and again he says: 'live a life worth saving' before directing me in the direction of Ollie and his team who really needed help with Victor here. And so I've been providing them with technical expertise ever since. Clark turned my life around, he saved me like he's done to so many others, and I know that without him I'd likely be dead and so I'm still trying to live up to the standard he set for me."

With that he was done with his work and powered up Victor.

"Everything go okay?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah," John confirmed before a shocked look crossed his face and he began patting himself down. "Wait where did my wrench go…oh no."

Victor looked at him shocked before looking at his chest as John began laughing as he produced the wrench from his sleeve. Victor growled before letting it go.

"Guys," said Oliver getting their attention. The group advanced to the monitor that again showed Doomsday making his way through explosions and weapons fire before several laser beams slammed into it throwing the creature backwards as numerous armored soldiers landed on the ground from above via jetpack.

"Looks like Lex is back in the picture," stated Ollie.

A/N: John's story was an idea I had for a fanfic that at the moment hasn't materialized. If it does, it'll likely be my last Smallville fic since Hal, Doomsday, and John's stories are the only ones I have an idea about what to write for this show.


	5. Doom

Metropolis: Sonic blasts tore through the sky as pedestrians ran everywhere in panic for cover. Doomsday was continuing to be battered backwards as multiple blasts hit it from all sides as the supersoldiers blazed all around it on their jetpacks. Lex Luthor watched from a nearby rooftop with slight disgust as Doomsday took a giant leap and took out a soldier in an explosion of blood.

"Tell the other soldiers to keep moving!" Lex growled. "That thing may not be able to fly but that doesn't mean it's defenseless."

"Yes sir," said Bartlett issuing the command through his headset as yet another soldier went down in a massive explosion as Doomsday punched it through its jetpack and then crashed down onto yet another roof before taking off with the soldiers in pursuit along with news and army helicopters.

"Retreat?" asked Bartlett hopeful.

"No," Lex growled. "It's only attacking our troops when they get in its way, it's still heading east. Otherwise it's…ignoring…them."

Lex's body began trembling as he slowly began crushing the binoculars in his hands.

"I won't be ignored," he raged before turning around and getting into the LuthorCorp helicopter with Bartlett and it took off into the sky.

Oliver Queen's Loft: The team was suiting up ready for action, including John Henry Irons.

"John I really don't want to bring you along with us until you've finished your prototype armor," Oliver admitted. John nodded as he picked up his massive steel hammer having already been decked out with a massive holed device on his right arm and a pair of devices on his legs and a large steel chestplate to finish off the ensemble above his black jumpsuit.

"I know and I do agree with you, but you need the help you can get," John pointed out. Oliver nodded and hit him on the shoulder reassuringly as John then put on a pair of glasses similar to Oliver's and a regular hat to try and further conceal his identity.

"So what should your codename be?" asked Hal curious. John shrugged lightly.

"I want it to be one of significance. What do you call Clark?" asked John of Chloe. Chloe thought about that.

"Boy Scout, my army of one, the Man of Steel," continued Chloe trying to remember various names he'd been given.

"The Man of Steel," said John thoughtfully. "I like that, you can call me that."

"That's too long, how about Steel?" asked Oliver. John nodded.

"Steel it is," he agreed with a grin. The others nodded and headed for the elevator while Steel headed for the window.

"I don't think you can leap tall buildings in a single bound," said Chloe looking at him doubtfully.

"No," Steel conceded. "But Clark told me that he once managed to fly. I intend to do the same."

With that the devices on his legs lit up and rockets on them propelled him into the air where he shook around unsteadily before getting a hang of it and rushing straight out into the open sky leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

"That scorch mark is coming out of his pay," Ollie noted when he spied the blackened mark on his floor.

"We get paid?" said Aquaman confused before the elevator doors closed leaving Chloe alone.

"Watchtower calling to confirm your radio transmitters are working," she said into her microphone. Six affirmatives came back as Chloe consulted the large LCD monitor showing their location relative to Doomsday's.

"Looks like Lex's goons are bringing him in, he's headed this way," said Chloe.

"Understood," said Oliver as the team raced out of the entrance below and into the city streets, which were mainly deserted by now.

"So what are you going to do, ally yourselves with Lex or fight against his Ares soldiers?" Chloe had to ask.

"We'll let him make the first move, all we care about is stopping that thing," said Ollie not happy with that choice but realizing they had none thanks to Doomsday's seemingly unstoppable power.

Warehouse: The LuthorCorp engineers were putting the finishing touches on a seemingly massive cannon perched on top of a gigantic military APC.

"There it is," said Lionel approvingly. "The Dimension Tide, one Doomsday annihilator in convenient portable size."

"You realize the dangers involved if such a device does not work properly?" asked the Martian Manhunter.

"Yes," said Lionel nodding his head. "But even if it doesn't work properly, it will perhaps be a better result than allowing Doomsday to continue his rampage unopposed."

"Agreed," stated the Martian. "How much longer until it is completed?"

"A few more hours," said Lionel. "I just hope Lex is able to keep him occupied that long."

J'onn closed his eyes and concentrated. "He seems to be less reckless this time with his soldiers but that may change. It seems the Green Arrow and his team are due to arrive on the scene shortly."

"That," said Lionel sighing. "Could be a problem."

Sullivan Lane: A flaming car went flying across the street as more sonic cannon shots were seen arcing through the sky as Doomsday appeared trying to shake off the body of another soldier that had gotten itself impaled on its right arm.

"There's still no word on where these soldiers have come from or if they are related to the team fighting them here in Metropolis earlier, but what information we do have seems to suggest that these are the same beings who were fighting the creature at the International Airport in Las Vegas," said Cat. "More information as it becomes available. Now then…"

As Cat was saying this, Lex's helicopter soared underneath hers trying to get a better vantage point on the battle. That battle soon came right to them when Doomsday finally ripped the soldier off of its arm and launched it at the helicopter, slamming into it leaving a smear of blood down the side of it as the body plummeted back to the ground below.

"God damn it," said Lex growing more frustrated. "How many soldiers do we have left?"

"Four sir," said Bartlett. "Though all in all by this time in the fight in Nevada we had lost them all so we are doing…better."

Lex scowled at that as he counted his flying soldiers. 1,2,3,4…5?

"What on Earth?" demanded Lex as Steel went flying by his helicopter and began firing railroad spikes from the device on his right arm at Doomsday.

"What is that?" demanded Lex being more and more upset about things he didn't know about. Before Bartlett could respond, an arrow lodged itself in the upper part of the helicopter's open cabin. Lex instinctively reached for a gas mask but was stopped when part of the arrow unfolded revealing a message that Bartlett took.

"Either help us or stay out of our way," Barlett quoted. He handed the message to Lex who read it and immediately snapped the arrow in half in anger but said nothing. Down below, arrows, spikes, blue plasma blasts, and green energy shots flew through the air slamming into Doomsday.

"Remember, get him into the water and then Aquaman should be able to hold him down with his powers," said Ollie to the team. The team continued firing using their long range weaponry as did the supersoldiers, but still Doomsday advanced.

"Okay boys, reel him in slowly," Ollie advised as they kept backing up allowing the creature to slowly follow them. The plan was going well and they were making their way to the waterfront when the plan inevitably fell apart. The major problem was that the military decided to get involved. Fighter jets roared overhead and began carpet bombing the area breaking the group's constant barrage and Doomsday's attention as it leapt high into the sky and tore through an F-17 like it was tissue paper before grabbing one of the falling missiles and launching it at the ground where Oliver's team scattered but Lex's team wasn't programmed to retreat without commands and the missile took them all out in a fiery explosion. Lex was operating on adrenalin alone as he made his way to his seat and pulled out a trunk revealing one more shock cannon and took it to the open doors of the chopper and aimed it into Metropolis. Lex's mounted scope aimed at Doomsday before he moved the cannon and focused it on the Green Arrow who was pointing his team in different directions in an attempt to get back to their plan.

"I'll see you in hell," Lex said as he reached for the trigger. But before he could fire, Bartlett stopped him.

"Sir, there are news helicopters everywhere. If they see a similar beam come from this chopper that the soldiers had, then that could put you and LuthorCorp in a precarious situation," Barlett advised. Lex looked at him and then at the helicopters and finally at the cannon before throwing it away in disgust.

"You may want to stay away from me for a few days," Lex said harshly. But before Bartlett could respond, a shadow fell over them as Doomsday hurtled through the air straight at them fist reared back before it punched the forward canopy killing the chopper pilot immediately before it fell away from sight as the chopper entered into a freefall. Lex and Bartlett hung on for dear life in an attempt not to fall out of the vehicle as the ground rushed up to meet them.

Below: "Oh damnit," said Oliver as Chloe informed him that it was Lex's helicopter that was now falling to the ground.

"What do we do now oh fearless leader?" asked Aquaman confused about what to do as Doomsday could be seen bounding away. Oliver knew they only had one choice.

"We follow Clark's example. Hal you go get whoever is still alive on that thing and Impulse you make sure that there's nobody around where that thing is going to hit," ordered Green Arrow. "The rest of you are with me."

Impulse blazed off as Hal took to the sky and Ollie, Victor, and AC ran in a different direction as John took once more to the air.

Warehouse: The flatbed truck carrying the Dimension Tide cannon rolled out and moved slowly along the roadway towards the sound of explosions as the Martian Manhunter streaked by overhead while Lionel rode in the cabin of the truck.

Helicopter: Lex vowed to himself that even in death he would come back and get his revenge on the world when he and Bartlett were picked up by a man dressed entirely in green clothes and then deposited them on a rooftop.

"Why?" Lex seethed at being rescued by this unknown person.

"Because we'll never become like you," said the Lantern bitterly before leaving a green streak behind as on the ground a blur raced down the empty street when the chopper hit the ground and exploded.

Oliver's Apartment: "You did a good thing Green Arrow," said Chloe also knowing how better off the world would be without Lex Luthor. "If we allowed him to die…"

"I know Watchtower, I know," said Oliver distantly. "Where is Doomsday now?"

"Well on a more positive note, he's now near the river leading to the waterfront," said Chloe trying to think positive.

"Good," said Ollie darkly. "Let's finish this."

River: There was a river that ran from the somewhere in the distance to the large body of water out beyond the city and effectively split off part the warehouse district from the hustle and bustle of the business and civilian sectors. It was this river that Doomsday was now overlooking as it continued on its path. It was about to leap off again when a plasma blast took out the perch it was standing on and it went hurtling at the ground before a green energy blast hit it full force and pushed Doomsday towards the river before Steel came rushing in and slammed Doomsday with his massive hammer so hardly that it nearly destroyed the thing. Doomsday was now headed straight for the river as a plume of water shot into the air and morphed into a giant hand that grabbed a hold of the creature and dragged it in.

"I've got him," said Aquaman at the water's edge with both of his hands in the water, his body visibly strained. "But he's resisting me."

"Impulse, whirlpool," ordered Green Arrow. Impulse snapped his fingers and ran off onto the water before running in a circle causing an underwater tornado to form, battering Doomsday.

"Open fire!" ordered the Green Arrow as Hal and Cyborg began firing their energy beams at the water heating it up as Steel raced over the water and turned his boosters to full throttle to further add to the water temperature. As they were doing this, Ollie took out a specially designed arrow with a steel wire attached to it that he handed to Cyborg who stopped shooting his cannon and punched hard into the ground revealing a main line for the city's electricity.

"Here goes," said Ollie trying to sound confidant in the plan. He fired the arrow into the water as Cyborg was getting ready to grab the electrical wires.

"Steel, grab Impulse!" ordered Ollie. John nodded and held out his hand as Bart stopped his circular motion and zoomed straight for him and both headed for the sky as the arrow flew into the whirlpool.

"Now!" he shouted as he leapt to the ground while Victor slammed his hand onto the main and became a conduit for millions of volts of electricity that pumped through him and into the arrow in the water as power was lost all over the city including Oliver's apartment as Chloe sat there in the dark waiting for Ollie's backup generator to kick in. Back at the river the electrical shocks continued until it became too much for Victor's body and he was blown away onto his back as electrical sparks rippled across his body while Steel and Impulse crashed to the pavement, Steel's boots were out of power, and Hal's ring ran out of juice and Aquaman too was nearly rendered senseless having left his hands in the water to keep Doomsday down and so he took was pumped full of electricity. Only Oliver was left standing until he too had to sit down from exhaustion from the fight. Looking expectantly out at the water for Doomsday's pending arrival, the surface was instead completely calm.

"Well done team," said Ollie breathing heavily. "Well done."

The others nodded and just sat there catching their breath as police sirens were heard when several cop cars came to a halt all around them and police officers emerged weapons drawn.

"Terrific," said Hal trying to get up but still didn't have the energy. The team looked at the cops uncertain as to what to do, fight them or surrender and have their identities revealed.

"Stand down," said a voice with authority. The cops looked on as a gruff older man approached them.

"Hello boys, my name is Inspector Dan Turpin of Metropolis' Special Crimes Unit, I'm known around these parts as 'Terrible Turpin' though I can't imagine why," said the man introducing himself. The team looked at him confused as to how that was supposed to reassure them.

"No offense Mr. Turpin, but your position on vigilantes is hardly cause for celebration amongst my team," said the Green Arrow having switched his voice changer back on.

"You're right," Turpin agreed. "But I too know the value of doing what's right when no one else will. So I'll let you off with a warning this time but _don't_ do this again in my town."

Silence followed at that.

"You can't get rid of us that easily. We're here to stay officer, like it or not," said Oliver standing up. Turpin nodded amicably.

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he said. "So what's the name of your little league that I'm going to have to take to justice?"

The team appeared thoughtful at that statement before looking at each as if sharing some unheard conversation before all nodded. Oliver turned to Turpin and smiled.

"We're the Jus-," he began when the riverfront exploded behind him. Turning around, the team watched in terror as Doomsday came hurtling right at them from above ready for battle.

Elsewhere: Lionel's convoy made it through the city streets as only the occasional drifter or looter could be seen moving across the deserted streets. Inside the truck cab, the Martian Manhunter held his head in pain.

"They fail did they?" asked Lionel. "A shame and they were so gifted to in putting a stop to my son's actions."

"I have to go," said the Manhunter opening the cab door.

"Be careful," was all Lionel said. "From what little I gleaned from Jor-El's memories, that thing may be able to give you a wound you won't be able to recover from."

The Manhunter nodded and then vanished into the sky.

Near Oliver's apartment: A police car went flipping end over end before exploding raining debris on the beleaguered Justice League and Metropolis Police Department.

"Keep firing!" ordered Turpin as he kept firing, using his squad car as a shield along with the rest of the PD did as well against Doomsday who was completely unphased by the bullets and continued advancing on the helpless officers.

"I need options!" shouted Oliver to his team as they lay huddled while explosions tore up all around them.

"I-I can't," said Impulse defeated. "I'm just too tired!"

"We all are!" snapped Hal. "But Boy Scout didn't quit either when things turned against him and neither can we! We'll quit when we're dead!"

"I might be able to jury rig something if I can find one of those super soldier's weapons intact by funneling the energy through Cyborg here," offered Steel.

"Youuu tttthinkkkk IIII ccccan handleee any mmmore enerrrrgy running throughhh mmmmeeee?" said Cyborg, his speech slurred from electricity still sparking through his body and his mildly charred flesh.

"It won't be a lot of energy but it'll be better than nothing," responded Steel.

"Good," said Ollie approvingly. "What about the rest of you?"

The others looked at each other unsure.

"Well my ring is powerless and I don't have the energy to even make anything with it anyway, but if Impulse here can get up to speed we should be able to fix the VTOL rather quickly," offered Hal.

"I don't know technical crap!" Impulse complained. Hal groaned.

"I'll handle all of the more advanced stuff but even you should be able to handle using a hammer," said the Green Lantern pointedly. Impulse thought about it and nodded.

"Good, Aquaman?" asked Ollie.

"I'll go kick over a fire hydrant," he grumbled as the team laughed.

"Good now that everyone's in better spirits, I'm headed back to my place to get more arrows so keep in radio contact," said Oliver. "On three."

The team held their hands together.

"1…2…3…Justice League!" they shouted. But before they could break, a shadow loomed over their circle. The team all dove away from it as Doomsday crashed down where they had been and without breaking a sweat, grabbed Hal and threw him across the intersection where he crashed into a light pole, knocking it off its base and then both came crashing down to the pavement in a shower of sparks. It then spun back around and found a plasma cannon and projectile cannon aimed point blank at its head by Cyborg and Steel. A moment of silence passed between the three as Victor and John nodded and then fired directly at its head with everything they had, which wasn't much but at point blank it didn't have to be. Smoke soon covered the entire area from the ensuing explosion as everyone waited in silence to see if it had worked.

Slowly the smoke began to clear revealing an extremely out of breath Victor Stone and John Henry Irons as they struggled to keep their weapons at the spot where Doomsday's head had been. Slowly a black spot of Doomsday's body became visible but unmoving as the smoke dissipated more and more and still it did not move. No one in the team dared say: 'I think we got him' because that line always meant the opposite in the movies and so they continued waiting and waiting, each moment Doomsday didn't move the sentiment growing larger and larger in their minds.

And then the smoke was gone and the truth was revealed.

"Goddammit!" shouted Oliver despite himself.

Doomsday had been completely untouched by the assault and just stood there waiting for the smoke to clear as if to prove how powerful it was. All Victor and John could do was stare in stunned silence as Doomsday calmly lifted up its left arm and brushed them aside with a powerful sweep of the back of its hand as the two went flying off into the nearest building and hit it with enough force to damage the bricks holding it up.

"Retreat!" shouted Turpin. He was not a quitter by any means of the word but even he knew that sacrificing themselves in a hopeless battle was a mistake. Everyone scattered as Aquaman and Impulse approached the Green Arrow.

"What do we do?" they asked helplessly as police officers scattered all around them as Doomsday began picking off the nearest ones. Oliver's teeth gritted together angrily.

"Get the others out of here and vanish," ordered Oliver. "Don't go back to my loft, don't go anywhere around here. Go someplace far away and make up a cover story to a hospital there explaining our team's injuries and see that they get the best possible medical attention. I've left instructions about what to do when you're all back to fighting strength and follow them at Base Beta. That's my final order."

"What're you going to do bro?" asked Aquaman concerned as Oliver turned to leave.

"End this," he said darkly. "One way or another."

With that he was gone as Impulse and Aquaman looked at each other and then rushed off to help their fallen comrades amidst the chaos.

Ollie's Loft: Chloe was standing by the massive windows as explosions drew closer and closer to the building. She was standing there so mesmerized she didn't see Oliver enter from a hidden entrance since the power was still fried to the building.

"Didn't go well I take it?" said Chloe sympathetically. Ollie shook his head as he headed for the far wall.

"No and you'd better find someplace to escape to," the Green Arrow said as he removed a painting of his parents from the wall revealing a safe behind it. "This city isn't safe anymore."

Chloe nodded sadly. "Yeah the DP just ordered all of its personnel to leave and head out to leave to field offices across the country."

"So where are you going to stay if we have to get in touch with you?" asked Oliver spinning the lock and opening the safe.

"Well since my job security isn't so secure anymore, Martha said that I shouldn't be worried about spending my money on rent for my apartment and that I could hole up in their farmhouse," answered Chloe. "It's pretty much abandoned now since…well you know."

Chloe was beginning to tear up as Ollie removed a case and placed it onto a nearby table as the building briefly shook from yet another explosion.

"Maybe we can use the farm too as a temporary base because I don't think this place is going to survive for much longer," commented the Green Arrow as he opened the case. "In any case, you'd better go now."

"What're you going to do?" demanded Chloe as Oliver produced a massive cylinder that looked like a menacing arrow.

"Do what Clark did," said Oliver. "Save the world at the cost of my own."

He headed for the door as Chloe hurried and blocked his path.

"You said you'd given up trying to be 'like Clark' after that whole thing with the super soldier serum," Chloe said slightly irate.

"I know," Oliver acknowledged. "And you were as right then as you are now. But what I'm doing now isn't selfish this time. Clark taught me what it really means to be a superhero and one of our primary tenants is that 'evil flourishes when good men do nothing' and I'm about to do something to try and save us all."

"So what are you going to do?" Chloe demanded. Oliver held up the arrow.

"I used one of these on one of Lex's super soldiers awhile back, it's a concentrated nuke in convenient arrow form," explained the rich CEO. "I'm going to shoot him right between the eyes with it."

"But the nuke in New Mexico…," began Chloe.

"I don't know what else to do," said Oliver helpless. "I'm scared okay. For once I don't have a plan or a strategy to save us that I know will work. All I know is that Clark had to have known what was coming when that plane dropped its bomb, but he still stayed regardless. He must've believed it was the only solution to stop that thing's rampage and it's the only solution I can come up with too and if you've got a better one let's hear it because if not step aside."

Chloe had no response to that and Oliver smiled half-heartedly and brushed past her leaving her alone in the massive loft as this time the whole building shook from another much closer explosion. Moving quickly, Chloe began collecting her things when her eyes fell on Jimmy's camera sitting absently on a desk in the room where Impulse had apparently left it while they were recuperating earlier.

"_I can't just let Jimmy loose his job_," Chloe's mind decided as she picked up the thing and removed the memory card and plugged it into her laptop's port. After scrolling annoyingly through nearly a couple dozen photos of herself, she reached the photos of Oliver's team. Hastily deleting them, she then took out the memory card and put it back in his camera, but she could only watch in shock as when she went to the window, she saw a car arcing through the air right towards her. Only this time there was no man of steel to stop its course and so it came through the windows unopposed as Chloe hit the ground while it flew over her head and then went tumbling end over end before wedging itself sideways against the two exits out of the room. Chloe ran over in panic but the car was firmly pressed against the exits and there was no way to move it. Turning around she headed for the rooftop exit and emerged into the daytime sky and ran to the side of the building. Looking down, she saw debris littering the streets as Doomsday headed down the main one towards her.

"Wait, what the-," began Chloe to herself. Down on the ground, something was fighting Doomsday. Using the zoom on Jimmy's camera, Chloe saw an African-American man dressed in purple throwing hard and heavy punches against Doomsday as the creature was battling the being right back. Down the street proved even more confusing as a semi-truck with a large flatbed trailer was being worked on by several individuals who removed a tarp revealing a massive device with a giant cannon at the end that swiveled to aim at the two combatants as it began powering up. Not sure where Oliver was, Chloe made her way to the fire escape ladder and moved down as quickly as she could while the building quaked all around her from the fight down below and various cars and other things exploding from Doomsday's rampage.

Down on the ground, the Martian Manhunter was fighting for his life against Doomsday as he tried to avoid every blow he could to varying degrees of success. Even moving at super speed hardly seemed to affect Doomsday's ability to sense where he was and all the Manhunter could do was slow Doomsday's rampage but not stop it or even batter him back. And so the fight continued on.

"_If Kal-El was able to still able to muster up the courage and strength to combat this monster for all these hours, he was right to not back down like I told him to_," thought J'onn sadly. The two continued fighting while oblivious to them, Oliver Queen was on the other side of the building pacing back and forth waiting for Doomsday to get within range so he could fire the arrow through the building's now open entrance and exit doors on both sides of the main lobby. Finally a sound beeped from his sunglasses and Ollie spun around as the lenses revealed Doomsday fighting another individual, someone _not_ Clark the glasses said. Slight sorry but undeterred from the action he had chosen, he drew his nuclear powered arrow and aimed it at the two.

"We're ready, J'onn," said Lionel over the radio. The Martian Manhunter nodded and roared off into the sky leaving Doomsday behind as it punched at open air.

"Fire!" shouted Lionel to his troops. The Dimension Tide opened fire as a ball of swirling energy rocketed out of it and flew right at Doomsday as Oliver fired his arrow at the same time and it flew through the building right at the beast.

Below Chloe, a massive explosion rang out and she was buffered against the side of the building as she screamed while the Dimension Tide shot coalesced into a miniature black hole and began dragging everything into it as the building was ripped to shreds from the atomic explosion. It was all too much for the intrepid reporter and her feet fell out from under her as she held on for dear life. But that grip didn't amount to much when the ladder was forcibly torn from the building and she screamed as she plummeted to the brewing black hole vortex below.


	6. The Death of Superman

Metropolis: Chloe screamed as she fell towards the swirling vortex below. But before she could be sucked into the black hole, an object zoomed across the sky and scooped her up before depositing her on a rooftop a few blocks away. Gasping for the breath that had been sucked out of her by the vortex, she slowly got her bearings and looked around for her mysterious savior.

"Clark?" she asked desperately. But as her vision cleared she saw the man who had been fighting Doomsday earlier.

"I am afraid not Ms. Sullivan," responded the Martian Manhunter, his arms crossed. Seeing him there, instead of her hero, was enough to finally break the reporter as she slumped to the ground defeated.

"Clark…," she said absently as her eyes threatened to well up with tears.

"Kal-El is dead," said J'onn harshly. "You must accept this fact and move on. If he were still alive, he would have returned by now. So go and find some place to hide so you do not get yourself into more danger. I will not be able to save you indefinitely."

"But Doomsday's dead," said Chloe bitterly to the Martian's demeanor. Before the Manhunter could respond to that, Doomsday came crashing down onto the rooftop.

"Son of a bitch!" shouted Chloe despite herself, she was never one to use swear words. "Just die you mother-."

"Get out of here!" shouted J'onn as he blocked a punch in pain and hit Doomsday square across the face to no avail as the creature punched right back flinging the Martian off into the distance. The creature then turned to face her and Chloe's blood froze as it reached up to the sky to impale her with the spike growing out of its elbow before J'onn crashed back into it causing the two to slam into the pavement below after a flurry of punches. The resulting crater caused the buildings around it to shake violently as Chloe turned and ran for the exit as fast as she could.

The Next Day: At the Kent Farm, Chloe sat at the Kent's dinner table eating some cereal as she watched the television display images of destruction all over Metropolis.

"This is Metropolis. Once a city of six million people. What has happened here was caused by a force which up until a few days ago was entirely beyond the scope of Man's imagination. Metropolis, a smoldering memorial to the unknown, an unknown which at this very moment still prevails and could at any time lash out with its terrible destruction anywhere else in the world. There were once many people here who could've told of what they saw... now there are only a few. My name is Cat Grant. I am an intern for WGBS. I was in Metropolis to try and earn a living; but it turned out to be a career in the living HELL of another world," said Cat Grant, her face a mess and shaking nervously as behind her, construction crews were already setting to work demolishing what they could while police and hospital workers cleared the dead from the streets.

"Doomsday is gone now," Cat continued. "Satellites detect him moving across Kansas farmlands again on an easterly course, to where and to what purpose we don't know. What we do know is that he is headed for some of the more populated cities in the country and already panic has begun to grip them as people do whatever they can to get out of the beast's path. Looting and rioting have occurred in most major cities and the president has declared martial law for nearly the entire eastern seaboard. Right now we have with us, General Lane of the US Army who will give us a brief rundown of the military's plans to further combat the beast. General?"

"Thank you Ms. Grant," said General Lane as he turned to the camera. "In short-"

Chloe flipped off the television at that and just sat there in silence as the sound of a car pulling up to the farm was heard. Chloe turned to see the screen door open and Lois step in.

"Oh Lois," said Chloe relieved as she ran to hug her cousin. "It's good to see a familiar face."

"Yeah you too," said Lois also glad to see her. "When I heard you were still stuck in Metropolis during Doomsday's rampage I nearly had a heart attack."

"I was lucky to get out of there with only a few cuts and scrapes," said Chloe very much underplaying the truth.

"You know I heard the Green Arrow showed up to battle that thing?" said Lois as she got some juice out of the fridge.

"Seriously?" said Chloe feigning shock. "Just by himself?"

"No," said Lois shaking her head in surprise. "Apparently he had a whole group of friends with him and I guess they put up quite a fight."

"So what happened?" asked Chloe curious if anyone knew Oliver's final fate.

"Don't know. Most of the team vanished, but the Green Arrow stayed behind to shoot off some high powered arrow that blew the crap out of Oliver's apartment, much less the whole building," Lois went on. "What happened to him after that no one knows, but they haven't found a corpse yet so he may still be loose somewhere."

"I see," said Chloe. "So are you planning on staying here then?"

"Hell no!" said Lois startling Chloe. "Doomsday's coming this way and I'm getting out of here! I just wanted to see if you wanted to come with."

"No offense Lois, but I think the possibility of Doomsday actually coming right here is rather slim," Chloe stated.

"Yeah well our family tends to be a magnet for trouble so I'm not taking any chances," said Lois drinking some juice. "Catch you later then and tell Clark I said hi."

"I will," said Chloe, her spirits dampened by the mentioning of Clark's name. "Be safe."

"You too," said Chloe as the two hugged once more and then Lois was gone leaving her once again alone. She was washing the dishes when the sound of a large engine caught her attention looking out the window, she saw the massive semi-truck from earlier come to a halt as LuthorCorp engineers swarmed all over the device on its trailer. Angrily stepping out of the house she walked over to Lionel Luthor who was supervising everything.

"Haven't you caused enough problems for one week Lionel?" she demanded of the man.

"Ah Ms. Sullivan," said Lionel with a smile. "It seems we must always cross paths at the worst of times."

"Most of them because of your actions," Chloe pointed out. Lionel nodded.

"True, but not this time," said the man. "I'm just an innocent player seeking to do some good in the world."

"Like you did near Ollie's place?" asked Chloe doubtful. "Your little black hole in a gun nearly killed me!"

"Yes, J'onn did tell me he rescued you before he passed out from his fight," Lionel recalled. "Funny how he told you to stay out of trouble and here you are back in it. What is it with you reporters anyway?"

"Get out of here! I won't have you destroy the Kent Farm, it's all I have left of Clark these days," said Chloe furious.

"Ms. Sullivan, if we do not stop Doomsday while he is out in the open we may never get another chance," said Lionel simply. "He managed to leap out of the way of the first black hole we launched before it ran out of juice and vanished. This time there will be nowhere for him to go and the property damage would be minimal at best accounting for potential multiple shots."

"Read my lips, go to-," began Chloe. Lionel held up his hand to stop her.

"It's all been approved by Ms. Kent, this is _her_ farm," said Lionel. "Now either help us or please step aside."

Chloe just spun around and marched right back into the house or risk doing something she knew she'd regret later. Lionel watched her go before turning around and getting back to supervising the remaining work to be done.

Afternoon: The cannon sat calmly facing the cornfields beyond as blasts rocked the distance as the military was hammering Doomsday with everything they had from tanks to planes to anything that could fire a projectile. But still Doomsday advanced shrugging off the cannon fire like it was nothing and advanced onwards to the Kent Farm. Chloe sat in Clark's original Fortress of Solitude in the loft of the barn looking out at the explosions through the telescope mounted there. Pushing it away, she sat down at Clark's desk and found his notes from just a week earlier on Lex's experiments. She couldn't believe how much had changed in just such a short period of time. Picking up the notes, she briefly glanced through them before dumping them on the table again in disgust. Turning her attention to his desk, she looked at all the framed photos spread across the table. Picking up one in particular featuring her, Clark, and Pete, she sighed as she remembered the old days of the three of them and the Torch.

"_Simpler times_," she had thought sadly. But now Pete was gone and Clark in all likelihood was as well. And now she too felt what Clark must have been feeling and perhaps what Pete had felt at times too back in the old days. The desire to just leave and begin a new life free of their former selves was a temptation to nearly everyone at one point or another. To most people, they would shrug off this idea as just a flight of fancy, but if you were someone who had the weight of the world on your shoulders every day because you could do something very few people could do it, save it, then the decision became that much harder to make. And Clark had finally made his decision, a decision she knew no one else could have made, and lived with it. So all Chloe was left with was to wonder what it would be like to be that brave.

"Power it up boys," said Lionel outside, breaking her thoughts. The Dimension Tide began making noises as Chloe walked back to her vantage point. An explosion ripped a hole in the ground as smoke came pouring out of it and then from the smoke Doomsday emerged. It began its trek towards the farm, one step after the other, as it stared down at the massive cannon.

"Fire!" shouted Lionel. The cannon spewed out a miniature black hole that Doomsday easily avoided by taking to the air with a giant leap. The cannon then aimed upwards and fired again but it missed as Doomsday came down right in front of the cannon and flipped the entire bed over causing the whole building to rock and Clark's portable radio onto the floor.

"In other news today, scientists are baffled by the sudden eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan with no prior warnings to signal its coming eruption," the radio droned on. "Witnesses swear to a darkened object being flung out of the cone at the top and vanishing into the sky before lava began pouring over the rim. More on this story as it develops."

Doomsday was now chasing after the various workers below and either shredding them apart or launching them high into the air only to fall to their deaths screaming their lungs out. Inside Chloe, rage threatened to bubble over inside her body. It was when Doomsday picked up the Kent's truck and launched it into their farmhouse that something inside snapped for the intrepid reporter. Tyler Durden said it best: '_It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything_' and that statement echoed through Chloe's head as pure rage took over her actions. Looking around she grabbed a nearby pitchfork and stalked down the steps and headed to the entrance to the barn as a worker's bloody body was tossed past it. She emerged into the daytime sky and hefted her pitchfork before a bloodied hand clasped it.

"Chloe," said Lionel beaten and battered. "Don't do this, get out of here and save yourself while you still can."

Chloe's anger filled eyes turned to face him. "Well, I'm still here. But I don't know for how long. That's as much certainty as anyone can give me. But I've got some good news: I no longer have any fear of death. But... I am in a pretty lonely place so I'm about to end that here and now."

She shoved the pitchfork away from his hands and walked out into the dirt driveway as Lionel tried to follow her but collapsed onto the ground from the wounds he had already received at the hands of Doomsday. The beast, as if sensing her presence, launched another worker into a haystack several yards away before turning to face her. The two stood there in silence as the wind blew the dust around them before even it too settled down.

"Alright you asshole you listen up and you listen good," said Chloe tightening her grip on the pitchfork. "I'm tired of running okay. I'm tired of you killing everything that ever mattered to me, of people and things that could actually do some good in this world. Well no more. Clark and Oliver sacrificed themselves in the hope that future generations would be spared from your wrath. I can't go on and living knowing about the untold sacrifices that they both made. So I'll probably die too doing this, but you know what I can live with that because…because…because I lo-"

She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence so she launched the pitchfork at Doomsday and it hit his hardened skin and fell to the ground. The creature looked at the pitchfork and then at Chloe unimpressed before slowly walking towards her until it loomed directly over her tiny body. Chloe glared up to him with tear stained eyes but refused to back down in fear or terror. Oliver and Clark had faced death on their feet and so too would she. But as Doomsday's punch was just inches from her, two red beams arced through the air and slammed into the creature as it roared in pain while the beams pumped more and more energy into it until Doomsday was thrown far off of its feet and into the field beyond where it lay there smoking in the crater it made upon impact unmoving.

"**You leave her alone!**" shouted a voice as Chloe looked behind her to see striding through the smoke and flames, like the Phoenix risen from the ashes, a bloody and battered disheveled Clark Kent with glowing red eyes. His clothes were completely trashed, his jeans reduced to shorts, his red jacket a mere shadow of its former self, but on his blue shirt…on his blue shirt burned into it was a massive 'S' logo like the one on the crystal he always carried around. Doomsday got back up and looked at the Kryptonian with pure rage in its eyes as it rushed the two. It threw a punch that Clark easily avoided before giving it an uppercut that sent it once more flying off into the distance.

"Hello Chloe, how have you been?" asked Clark as if discussing the weather. Chloe looked at him both shocked and stunned at his sudden resurrection before hugging him tightly. Clark stood there accepting the hug before she finally let go.

"Where the hell have you been?" she demanded. "We thought you were dead!"

"I nearly was," answered Kal-El. "When that bomb went off, it drove Doomsday and me far underground. I don't remember much after that, just silence until your scream broke through the murkiness thanks to my super hearing. I awoke buried underneath half the planet but I broke free and traveled down the rivers of lava underneath the planet until I found a volcano to escape through and came here as fast as I could."

"Well it doesn't matter," Chloe decided. "You're still alive and that means that-."

Clark's look of sadness at her broke her sentence.

"What?" she demanded. Clark sighed.

"Chloe I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not going to be around for much longer," stated the Kryptonian. "Being alone with my thoughts led to me realizing that there is no possible way Doomsday can be defeated without sacrificing myself in the process. I am going to set the cannon upright and I will hold Doomsday just long enough for you to activate the device and send us both to whatever fate awaits us."

Chloe looked at him as her jaw dropped in disbelief. "No. I'm not going to loose you, not again!"

"Chloe," said Clark shaking his head in sympathy. "There's no other choice, it's what Jor-El has been trying to teach me all along. There are some things worth fighting and dying for."

"I know," said Chloe knowingly as she gave a half-hearted smile as her eyes fell on the massive S on his shirt. "Nice S."

"Thanks," said Clark with a grin. "When the bomb hit, it caused the image of the S Crystal to be burned onto my shirt. I kind of like it."

"I do too, it seems heroic somehow," said Chloe before Clark's image slightly blurred and the truck found itself upright and the activation device pressed firmly in her hands as he prepared to rush off to where Doomsday could be seen getting back up amongst the haystacks.

"Goodbye Chloe," said Clark not sure what else to say. Chloe looked away from him sadly.

"Don't make this goodbye," she once again pleaded. Clark could only slowly shake his head at that.

"I'm sorry to have to do this Chloe," said Clark as he put his hands on her shoulders. "I really am, please don't hate me for this, I just want you to be happy no matter what you do in life."

"But how can I be happy without-," began Chloe, the last part being unsaid. Clark gave her a reassuring smile.

"You are happy," he said. "You always have been. Between you and Jimmy and Lois, Lex'll never know what hit him. Just do that for me and I'll be happy too."

With that he began to move and Chloe blocked his path and Clark sighed.

"No," she said stubbornly.

"Goodbye Chloe," he said once more and kissed her lightly on the cheek. And then to Chloe's astonishment he hovered into the air above her head and shot off like a rocket and plowed right in Doomsday with both fists outstretched. It was at that moment that he did that, that Chloe knew once and for all that he was gone forever.

"_In the hopes that you'll one day fly back to me_," thought Chloe quoting her letter she had read to him. But Clark had done the opposite, he had flown away from her once again, that was how it had to be when you were a superhero. Doomsday and Clark were now fighting in the fields faster and more ferociously than before as if both sensed that this was their final bout. Their fists created huge shockwaves that flung haystacks apart and shattered all the glass in the Kent farm and the various vehicles around the farm. Both were refusing to give an inch and the fight only got faster and faster until the blows were moving faster than the eye could see. Chloe meanwhile set to her work and found the aiming device on the cannon and slowly began swiveling the Dimension Tide to aim at the two combatants. Doomsday saw the glint of the cannon out of the corner of its eye and it leapt over Clark headed right for it when Clark took to the sky and grabbed Doomsday's foot and slammed him to the ground right in front of it. Clark then picked up the creature and looked at Chloe.

"Do it now!" he shouted as Doomsday shoved him aside and moved towards Chloe once more. Chloe hit the switch and watched as Doomsday's fist hurtled right at her with all of his might. But Clark zoomed right in front it.

"For Chloe, for Jimmy, for Lois, for everyone, this ends now!" he shouted and threw a punch of his own that was the hardest he had ever given an opponent as the cannon fired.

_The resulting blow would be even more powerful than the bomb dropped in New Mexico. Seismographs didn't just detect it the impact would shake the entire Earth and would be felt as far away the North and South Poles. Animals all over the world would howl at the sky when the shockwave hit and birds everywhere would take to the sky in one huge burst. For years people would talk about where they had been when they felt the tremor that nearly knocked the planet off of its' axis. But the actual cause of the quake would never be known. Everyone knew it had originated from the spot where Doomsday had once been, but no one knew what became of the beast. The official explanation was that it had mysteriously exploded leaving no corpse behind. The truth was that its dead corpse had been sucked into the black hole the Dimension Tide had created and would hopefully never be seen again, but the public would never know this. Just like they would never know that Clark Kent had been the one to put a stop to Doomsday's onslaught._

"Clark!" shouted Chloe as she rushed to his fallen form after the black hole vanished, taking Doomsday with it. She held up his head as behind her, his tattered red jacket lay flapping in the wind, attached to a pole that had found itself lodged itself into the ground.

"Doomsday," Clark coughed. "Is…is…he?"

"He's gone," Chloe assured him as tears fell. "You saved us all. Now just hold on until…"

_But it was too late. For this was the day that a Superman died_.

A/N: This really wasn't as epic as I'd hope for, but let's face it I'm no Dan Jurgens. Epilogue coming up. And don't take this ending as supporting the Chlois theory, I'm not passing judgment on that one way or another with this ending. It's just that my hands are tied as far as the canon of the show goes, which is what I'm trying to stick to right now.


	7. The World's Finest

Smallville Count Hospital: The battered Justice League stood around Clark's body lying on the hospital bed.

"For valor in the face of danger, we honor Clark Kent," said Oliver Queen, wearing a cast on his arm and on a pair of crutches but otherwise still alive. He placed a small medal on Clark's hospital shirt that had the letters JL on it and backed away as the team looked at their former member with respect before they turned to go.

"So what are you guys going to do now?" asked Chloe watching them leave as she still sat by Clark's bed.

"What we always do Pinky," said Impulse with a broken smile.

"Go save the world," Oliver finished. "Once we're back to fighting strength that is."

The rest of the team nodded as they winced from all the injuries they had sustained from Doomsday's assault.

"Don't be a stranger if you need my help," said Chloe with a slight smile. Oliver nodded.

"Will do Watchtower, will do," Ollie responded as the team left her behind. Chloe looked over Clark's body one last time as she tried to figure out what to say. After all she would be the only one to give him any kind of eulogy, albeit unheard, Martha had decided to keep his death a secret so no one would suspect that he was the one who had been fighting Doomsday earlier and because of the cover story they had already concocted would be hard to explain with this new development. But Chloe was having trouble coming up with the words to express how she felt.

"I guess the first thing I'll say is-," began Chloe when the sound of a door opening caught her attention.

"O-oh, h-hello," stuttered a man who was in a ratty old coat and had a cap in his hands almost as if in respect to Clark.

"Can I help you?" asked Chloe confused as to what this man could possibly be doing here. She reached for her can of pepperspray just in case.

"I-I-I h-heard th-that C-Clark K-Kent w-was h-here," said the man nervously wringing his cap in his hands. "H-he, he s-saved m-my l-life o-once."

Chloe was even more confused by this statement.

"W-what?" asked the man confused.

"How did you find out about this, it was never made public," Chloe said as her eyes narrowed at the man.

"Y-y-you'd be su-sur-surprised w-what you-you c-can l-l-learn i-in t-the u-underw-world," the man continued. "M-Miss…?"

"Sullivan," said Chloe. "Chloe Sullivan."

Realization seemed to dawn on the man's face. "O-oh, th-the re-reporter."

He offered her his hand with a tattered glove on it to shake her hand as Chloe reluctantly did so but was prepared for trouble. It never came as the shake finished and both stood there unsure as to what to do next.

"And your name is?" asked Chloe, ready to leave and look it up with her computer and the Daily Planet's remote database.

"Ma-ma-ma-Mat-ches Ma-ma-ma-Malone," responded the man. "C-c-could w-we h-have a m-moment a-alone?"

Chloe looked at Clark's body and then at the man who seemed to radiate only innocence.

"Fine," she agreed before warning. "But don't try anything or I will be back…faster than a speeding bullet."

"Y-yes m-ma'am!" said Matches Malone giving her a military salute. Chloe sighed and headed for the exit before surreptitiously hiding her tape recorder on a nearby tray when she was sure Matches attention was no longer on her. Then with that she was gone leaving him behind. But as soon as she did, a shift seemed to come over the man as casual innocence was replaced with calculating eyes as Matches straightened up, walked to her tape recorder, and shut it off before drawing the blinds, locking the door, and looking at the body on the hospital bed. Matches looked it over on all sides and then went through the patient's chart. It was as he was doing this that his head turned slightly as if he had heard an almost imperceptible noise as Matches eyes began looking at a darkened corner of the room through his periphery vision.

"You may as well show yourself Clark, I know this isn't you," said Matches with no hint of a stutter whatsoever in an almost completely different voice. Clark Kent appeared from the shadows with a smile.

"Nothing ever seems to get by you does it?" he asked with a grin. Matches shrugged.

"I've always been fascinated with the old noir detective stories," he said unapologetically. Clark laughed briefly at that before offering his hand.

"Hello Bruce, it's been awhile," said the Man of Steel. Matches Malone aka the 20 some odd year Bruce Wayne returned Clark's handshake.

"Yes it has been, hasn't it," the boy billionaire agreed. "But from what I can tell you've been keeping busy."

Clark shrugged. "Something always seems to come up."

Bruce nodded before pointing behind him. "So who's the 'stiff'?"

The Clark Kent on the bed morphed into the Martian Manhunter and stood up.

"You can leave us for now," said Clark to him. "Bruce and I just need to catch on some old times."

J'onn nodded and vanished through a nearby wall.

"Those Martians are capable of some handy tricks," Bruce noted. Clark nodded, not surprised with Bruce's deductive skills.

"So what brings you out from Gotham City?" asked Clark curious as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"They finally had the hearing for Joe Chill," said Bruce darkly.

"Ah," said Clark nodding, knowing all about the man who had murdered Bruce's parents. "How did that go?"

"Not well," said Bruce with an eerie air of calm about him. "He's dead."

Clark started at that before Bruce held up his hand to calm him.

"Not by me, mind you but…I certainly wanted to do it," he said as he put his hands into his pockets. Clark returned to the wall.

"So what happened?" asked Kal-El curious. Bruce shrugged.

"Well…someone put out a hit on him and then I went to go talk to that man angry for him having stolen my only outlet for revenge," continued the other person. "We had a chat, I learned some things that I had been denying for some time, and I traded a man for his coat and came right here when I heard what had happened."

"Well I guess that explains this," said Clark pulling out a copy of the Daily Planet with the headline: 'Heir to the Wayne Fortune Vanishes Without a Trace'. "I must say I'm touched that the first thing you decided was to check up on me."

"Let's just say if someone managed to take you out well…it wouldn't be good," said Bruce slightly annoyed at Clark's comment before finally taking a seat on Clark's abandoned hospital bed. "And so I had to know for sure what had actually happened to you."

"Yeah Doomsday was a real barn burner. J'onn somehow managed to resuscitate me but for a few moments I was actually dead," said the Kryptonian shivering. "I don't know how I pulled through, but it finally provided me with an opportunity that I'd been looking for, for quite awhile."

"So what are you going to do?" asked the human curious.

"Leave," answered Clark simply. "When I was gone after the bomb hit my mom came up with some story about how I'd gone traveling abroad. It actually sounds like a good idea."

Bruce nodded before confessing. "I actually intend to do the same."

"Really?" said Clark, his interest piqued. "We should go together."

Bruce eyed him like he was mad. "A team up? Maybe someday but _not_ today."

"You're missing out," Clark insisted. "You and me together, think of the possibilities. We could open our own farm with you handling the business aspect of it and me the growing."

Bruce chuckled at that, the first time he'd laughed in quite awhile.

"Well I suppose with you being an alien and all you could make our own crop circles and they'd actually be genuine," Bruce admitted as Clark looked mildly shocked that Bruce actually cracked a joke.

"At any rate, I think we're looking for two different things out there," responded the Gothamite with a tinge of regret.

"And what are you looking for out there?" asked Clark calmly. Bruce looked up at him with dark eyes.

"The worst that humanity has to offer," he responded. "I want to know and understand how the criminal mind works and how to stop it. I seek...The means to fight injustice. To turn fear against those who prey on the fearful."

Clark nodded with a hint of regret. "You're right we are looking for different things. I'm looking for the best that humanity has to offer. I'm going to be looking for truth and justice wherever I go and help those who so desperately need it."

Silence filled the air at that.

"I wish I was more like you," Bruce confessed.

"Funny," said Clark. "I was about to say the same thing. I wish I was more like you."

"You can't mean that," said Bruce shaking his head dismissively. "You see the best in humanity, what's bad about that?"

"Yeah but that's all I see," Clark admitted. "I can't see the darker parts of humanity because I have so much hope that people will change and that I shouldn't interfere with them and their chance to change. But some people just don't and I can't bring myself to stop them when it needs to be done."

"You mean Lex Luthor," Bruce figured. Clark nodded.

"I should've stopped him a long time ago but I just can't bring myself to do it," Clark confessed. "And every time he does something I know that it's inevitably my fault. So I'm going away to try and find where the proper balance lies between doing what _I_ think is right and doing what _is_ right."

"As will I," answered Bruce calmly. "As will I. But…do you think it's cruel to them all to make them think you're dead?"

"That's a bit rich coming from you," said Clark waving the newspaper again. Bruce shrugged.

"Aside from Alfred and Rachel, I doubt anyone will care what happens to me," said Bruce, Clark having met both during a brief adventure the two had had some time ago. "I have few friends Clark, that's just how it is with me."

"Well if you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask," said Clark. "If you can ever reach me that is."

"I will," Bruce promised. "And by all means hold the same true of me as well."

"You know there's actually something you can do for me right now," Clark admitted and he told Bruce what it was.

Later: Chloe noticed the blinds were pulled down and hurried into the room and found an empty bed and an open window. She quickly lunged for her tape recorder but found it had been shut off and the tape rewound to the beginning. Still looking around, her eyes fell on a note that was on the bed.

"Watch the Skies," said Chloe reading the note as below it, Clark's S logo and a strange black logo that looked like a bat appeared. She looked up at the open window and walked towards it when her eyes spotted the newspaper sitting on the nearby chair. She picked it up and read the headline before realization dawned on her and she walked to the window and looked out into the daytime sky as wind lightly breezed against it as a smile crossed her face.

"Guess some things are best left unsaid," she said before she turned around and left the room.

Airport: Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne were standing by an airplane that had passengers boarding it from the airfield.

"4800, 4900, 5000," said Bruce counting off hundred dollar bills as he handed them to Clark before adding wryly. "Hopefully that'll get you through at least partway through your trip."

"Bruce I can't take your money," Clark said uneasy. "You'll need as much of it as you can get on your trip."

"No, no," Bruce insisted. "I'm not living the rich life anymore. In order to understand the criminal element I must become as desperate as they are. Only then will I truly be able to learn how they think and operate."

"Alright," said Clark not wanting to get into an argument as he pocketed the money and shifted his backpack on his shoulder.

"I'll see you around," Clark decided as his parting statement as he offered his hand once more.

"Yeah you too," Bruce agreed as both shook hands once more. And then Superman and Batman parted ways as one took to the sky and one headed for the open doors of the airplane.

A/N: No this isn't a copout of an ending, I always had this ending in my mind even if the rest of the story didn't occur like my original plot outline did. The story was supposed to go, Justice League fights Doomsday first, then Clark, then he 'dies' in Metropolis, and finally meets up with Bruce. But whatever it's done with, that's all that matters. Hope you enjoyed it.


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